ANCIENT HISTORY 



OF 



UNIVERSALISM, 



TIME OF THE APOSTLES TO THE FIFTH GENERAL COUNCIL, 
WITH AN APPENDIX, 

TRACING THE DOCTRINE TO TEE REFORMATION. 
BY 

HOSE A BALLOU, 2d., D. D. 

WITH NOTES, 

BY REV. A. ST. JOHN CHAMBKE, A.M., AND T. J. SAWYER, D.D. 



BOSTON : 
UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, 

37 CORNHILL. 

1872. 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 

THE 

UNIVERSALIS T PUBLISHING HOUSE, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



The reader will perceive, in the commencement of the 
lowing work, that I have not introduced a statement 

f the Scripture doctrine upon the subject of my History. 

: or the omission, which some may consider a defect, 
I submit these reasons : it seemed to me that a brief 
statement would prove useless, since every one would 
form his own opinion from other authority ; and it was 
thought that a satisfactory discussion of the important 
question belonged rather to the Polemic than to the His- 
torian. Accordingly, for the commencement of my under- 
taking, I fixed on a date posterior to the publication of most 
of the New Testament ; and jet, as it was desirable to take 
into view every other Christian production extant of the 
first ages, it was necessary to begin as early as a. d. 90, 
before some of St. John's writings were composed. 

The attentive reader will also discover, as he proceeds, 
that the Ancient History of Universalism is naturally dis- 
tinguished, by certain peculiarities, into three successive 
Periods : the First, extending to the year 190, and em- 
braced in the first two chapters, affords but few indisputable 
traces either of that doctrine or of its opposite ; the Second, 
running through the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters, 
to the year 390, or 394, is distinguished by the prevalence 
both of Universalism and of the doctrine of endless misery, 
without producing the least disturbance or uneasiness in 
the church ; the Third, reaching to the Fifth General 
Council, in a. d. 553, is marked with continual censures, 

3 



IV 



PREFACE. 



frequent commotions, and some disgraceful quarrels, on 
that subject. 

And, as I have endeavored to vary my general plan, so 
as to suit the peculiar character and circumstances of each 
of these periods, I would here bespeak the reader's attention 
to the method I have pursued. In the first Period, then, 
I have been careful to state, in his own words, the opinion 
of every Christian author who has left us any remarks 
concerning future punishment, or the eventual salvation of 
the world ; and down to the year 150, I have, with still 
more particularity, inserted every passage which I thought 
belonged to either of those subjects. Accordingly, it may 
be expected that, to many, the first two chapters will prove 
more tedious than the rest of the work. In the second 
Period, while it has been my principal object to give a full 
account of all those fathers who, during that time, advo- 
cated or favored Universalism, I have also aimed to present 
a correct view of the opinions entertained, the meanwhile, 
by the Christian world at large, on that point. In the 
third Period, I have pursued nearly the same course ; leav- 
ing, however, the common sentiment of the church, concern- 
ing the doctrine in question, to be gathered from the 
controversies and quarrels which then occurred, and which 
I have minutely described. Thus far, I may venture to 
pronounce the History complete, in one respect : it contains 
an account of every individual of note, whom we have now 
the means of knowing to have been a Universalist. 

In the Appendix the plan is very different, since a regular 
and connected history of Universalism, from the Fifth 
General Council to the Reformation, is, with me, utterly 
impracticable. Here, therefore, nothing but a sketch is 
attempted, pointing out those traces of the doctrine which 
I have happened to discover in the course of reading. 

I would also take this opportunity, once for all, to ap- 
prize my readers of the sense in which they will find certain 



PREFACE. 



Y 



terms and phrases used in the following work. The title 
bishop is supposed to have signified, at first, only the chief 
minister of a city, or territory ; though it afterwards be- 
came confined in its application to a distinct and superior 
order of clergy. By the popular epithets orthodox and 
heretic, I mean, not the true and the false, but the pre- 
dominant, or catholic, and the dissenting, or anathematized. 
To conclude, I have frequently spoken of the Western or 
Latin Churches, in distinction from the Eastern or Greek; 
though they were not finally separated from each other's 
communion, till the ninth century. 
Roxbury, Oct 22d, 1828. 



A second edition of this work was published in 1842. 
It always filled an important place in the literature of the 
Universalist Church ; and it is now republished with such 
additions to the notes as later researches have suggested. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 

Boston, Dec. 1st, 1871. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

From A. D. 90 to A. D. 150 7 

CHAPTER H. 

From A. D. 150 to A. D. 190 33 

CHAPTER m. 

From A. D. 190 to A. D. 230 52 

CHAPTER IV. 

Origen 69 

CHAPTER V. 

Origen's Scholars and Cotemporaries 103 

Appendix to Chapter V 121 

CHAPTER VI. 

From A. D. 254 to A. D. 390 130 

CHAPTER VII. 
From A. D. 390 to A. D. 404 191 

CHAPTER VIII. 
From A. D. 404 to A. D. 500 224 

CHAPTER IX. 

From A. D. 500 to A. D. 554 255 

APPENDIX. 

From A. D. 554 to A. D. 1500 283 

7 



THE 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF UNIVERSALISM. 

CHAPTER I. 

FKOM A. D. 90 TO A. D. 150. 

At the date with which this history begins, a.d.9o. 
none of the apostles are supposed to have been 
alive, except St. John, who then resided, at a 
very advanced age, in the great city of Ephesus. 
St. Peter and St. Paul suffered martyrdom at Rome 
more than twenty years before ; and St. James the 
Great, and St. James the Less, at Jerusalem, at a 
still earlier period. Of the deaths of the other apos- 
tles, nothing can be pronounced with confidence, 
notwithstanding the accounts given of their martyr- 
dom by some ancient writers, and adopted by many 
of the moderns. 

Nor must we pretend to define the extent to which 
Christianity had now spread; since, on this subject, 
it is often impossible to distinguish the true from the 
fabulous accounts of early historians. It is probable, 
however, that some churches were already established 
in most of the Roman provinces, especially in the 

7 



8 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



eastern. But the number of professed Christians 
must still have been very small, compared with the 
whole mass of the community ; and it must have been 
composed, with some exceptions, of the lower classes 
of people. The rich and noble were, for the most 
part, attached to the ancient forms and institutions ; 
and the men of great learning, and those of refined 
tastes, did not depart, as indeed they seldom do, from 
that popular course where they might find reward, or 
at least hope for admiration. 

The Christians were, nevertheless, not an obscure 
sect. Their religion was so novel, so different from 
every other, and they were so zealous and successful 
in its cause, that it drew much attention wherever it 
was introduced. It was, indeed, greatly misunder- 
stood by the public at large ; and still more misrepre- 
sented by its particular enemies. Of these, the most 
bitter were the heathen priests, who felt their long 
unmolested repose disturbed by the growing desertion 
of their temples, and neglect of their services. 1 Still 
it must be remarked, that the Christians had suffered 
very little persecution, except slander, since the death 
of Nero, more than twenty years before. But the 
time drew near when they were to encounter pro- 
scription, danger, and even death, from the civil 
authorities. It was but four or five years afterwards, 
that the jealousy of the Emperor Domitian revived the 

1 Plinii Epist. 97, lib. x. and Taciti Annal. lib. xv. cap. 44. Afterwards, or 
towards the year 150, we find the most outrageous calumny heaped upon the 
Christians : they were commonly called Atheists ; and all kinds of licentiousness, 
even such as cannot, with decency, be mentioned, were charged upon them. To 
refute and expose these slanderous falsehoods was a grand object with several of 
the early Christian writers. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 



9 



storm, which raged, with some considerable intervals, 
for more than two centuries, till the ominous conver- 
sion of Constantine gave to the church the kingdoms 
of this world, and the glory of them. 

As to the system of doctrine held by the Christians 
at this period, we can determine few of its particulars, 
if indeed it be proper to say that such a system then 
obtained. Their religion had not, as yet, been taught 
on any regular plan, like that of a body of divinity. 
Its fundamental truths, that Jesus of Nazareth was the 
Messiah, the Christ of the only true God, and the Sa- 
viour of men, and that he rose from the dead, neces- 
sarily engrossed the chief attention of its professors, 
since these were the important facts they were obliged, 
almost continually, to urge on the people, and to de- 
fend against opponents. It is extremely difficult for 
us, who are brought up in a state of society where 
Christianity is the original and universal religion, and 
where our disputes extend only to its particular tenets, 
to conceive of the simplicity in which the first preach- 
ers taught their faith, when, not the doctrine, but the 
truth itself, of that religion, was the principal point in 
dispute. When people were brought to acknowledge 
the mission of Christ, they were considered Christians, 
and, if their conduct became their profession, they 
were gladly received into the churches ; though fur- 
ther instructions were then given, or afterwards added 
as opportunities offered. 1 Such being the liberal con- 

1 This was the practice of the apostles. See the abstracts and accounts of those 
discourses which they addressed to unbelievers ; Acts ii. 14 — 41 ; iii. 12—26 ; iv. 
8—12; v. 29—32; viii. 30—38; ix. 20—22; x. 34—48; xiii. 16—41; xvi. 30—33; xvii. 
2—4, 18, 22—34; xxiii. 6; xxv. 18, 19; xxvi., xxviii. 23. 



10 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



ditions on which the churches were gathered, they, of 
course, admitted persons of different, and even of op- 
posite sentiments, on many points of doctrine. Both 
the Jewish and Gentile converts retained many of 
their respective prejudices. The consequence was, 
that disputes had already arisen among them, particu- 
larly concerning the obligation of the Mosaic rituals, 
on one hand, and the heathen schemes of philosophy 
on another. The apostles themselves had, years before, 
interposed to decide these controversies ; but even their 
authority could not remove the prejudices of the parties, 
nor silence their contentions. Even at this early period, 
some of the Gnostic believers, in particular, had prob- 
ably gone so far as to separate from the other churches 
and to form themselves into distinct bodies, which, 
however, must have been small and obscure. We can- 
not suppose, after all, that the Christians, in general, 
had so soon obliterated from their faith the prominent 
features of the apostolic doctrine ; especially, when 
we consider that most of the books of the New Testa- 
ment were now in circulation, and that St. John still 
lived to be consulted, and to give instructions. 1 

Proceeding, now, to the particular subject of our 
history, we shall, in the present chapter, produce all 
that can be known, with any degree of certainty, of 
the views entertained by the Christians, from this time 
till a. d. 150, in relation to a future state of punish- 
ment and the eventual salvation of the world. The 
only direct light that gleams, at intervals, through the 

1 The principal facts in this section are illustrated at large hy Mosheim, Eccl. 
East. Cent. i. ; and more particularly in his Commentaries on the Affairs of the 
Christians, before the Time of Constantine, etc. Vol. i. VidaVs Translation. 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



11 



obscurity of the course we attempt, is derived from 
the few Christian writings of this period, which are 
still extant. These are the productions of those com- 
monly called the Apostolical Fathers, the first Christian 
authors, whose works have reached us, after the apos- 
tles themselves. They are the following : The First 
Epistle of Clemens Romanus; seven Epistles of Igna- 
tius; The Epistle of Poly carp ; The Epistle of Barna- 
bas; and The Shepherd of Hermas. Among these, we 
should perhaps insert a Relation of the Martyrdom of 
Ignatius. 1 These writings, composed by men of little 
learning, and, for the most part, of as little judgment, 
are still valuable, as they afford some notion of the 
state of the early Christians, and of their sentiments ; 
but whoever expects to find them instructive or edify- 
ing in other respects will rise from their perusal in 
disappointment, if not with disgust. 

The Epistle of Clemens Romanus is distinguished 
for the respect it received from the ancient 

1 A. D. 90—95. 

churches, some of which caused it to be 
read, in public, with the books of the New Tes- 
tament. It may be allowed, at least, the com- 
mendations, that it is simple though diffuse, and 
that it contains but one instance 2 of those absurd 

1 Of the Second Epistle of Clemens Roma?ius, so called, the genuineness is con- 
sidered doubtful by Eusebius, Jerome, Du Pin, Mosheim, etc., and wholly denied 
by Photius, Archbishop Usher, Lardner, Brucker, Le Clerc, and others. Scarcely 
one admits it. There are other writings extant, ascribed to Clemens Romanus, 
but which are now universally considered forgeries, and of a much later date. I 
omit The Acts of Paul and Thecla, a forgery of the first century, because our 
present copy is either a forgery upon that original one, or else so much interpo- 
lated that we cannot determine what is ancient. See Lardner's Credibility, etc., 
Chap. Supposititious Writings of 2d Century. The reason why I place The Epis- 
tle of Barnabas, and The Shepherd of Hermas last in this catalogue will be given 
under the accounts respectively of those works. 

2 Clemens' Rom. Epis. § 12. Wake's Translation. The date of this Epistle was 



12 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



allegories which abound in the succeeding fathers. 
Clement, of Eome, who was bishop of the church in 
that city, and perhaps the same person whom St. Paul 
had mentioned (Phil. iv. 3), wrote this Epistle to the 
Corinthian Christians for the purpose of dissuading 
them from their quarrels and seditions. Earnestly 
exhorting them to repent of their mutual envy and 
abuse, he adduces, among other considerations, the 
justice of God as a motive of fear, and the terrible 
destruction of Sodom and its neighboring cities as 
instances of the divine judgments on sinners. But it 
is remarkable that, in the whole of this Epistle, about 
as long as St. Mark's Gospel, there is no expression 
which discovers whether he believed in any future 
state of punishment, nor whether he held the salvation 
of all mankind. 1 There are, indeed, two passages, 2 
which may naturally, not necessarily, be understood 
to intimate that those only who here serve the Lord 
will hereafter be raised from the dead. 3 

probably between A. d. 90 and 95. Lardner places it at A. d. 94 or 95; Junius, 
at 98; Baronius and Cotelerius, at 92; Dodwell, Wake, and De Clerc, between 64 
and 70. 

1 He probably believed in the salvation of all mankind. He says, " Let us 
reflect bow free from wratb He is towards all His creatures," Ep. 1, xix. See 
also xx., wbere towards tbe last we read, tbat God "does good to all, but most 
abundantly to us who have fled for refuge to His compassions through Jesus 
Christ our Lord," etc. See also xxxii. We are "not justified by ourselves, nor 
by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works which we have 
wrought in holiness of heart ; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, 
Almighty God has justified all men; to wbom we glory forever and ever, 
Amen." — A. St. J. C. 

N. B. — My notes through this volume are. for the rnostpart, condensed from my 
MS. History of " Christianity and the Church." — A. St. John Chambr£. 

, Clem. Rom. Epis. § 26 and 49. In these two passages, Clemens expressly men- 
tions tbe resurrection of those who " religiously serve the Lord," and are "made 
perfect in love ; " but nowhere does he assert the resurrection of others. 

3 Clem. Rom. Ep. 1, xxviii., however, seems to teach otherwise. In that all 
are called to forsake sin, since none can escape God's judgments, nor remove them- 



OF UXIVEKSALISM. 



13 



In passing over the time at which St. John is 
commonly supposed to have written 

, . ~ 7 \ ' , ^ . , . A. D. 94 to 100. 

his Gospel and three Jb_pistles, L we 
may remark that this last of the apostles died at 
Ephesus, about the year 100. He left the world at a 
period when old errors appear to have been spreading 
in the church, and springing up there under new 
forms and modifications. They were chiefly of the 
Gnostic kind, derived from the Oriental or Persian 
philosophy, of which we shall have a more particular 
account to give in the sequel. 

We come next to the famous Ejoisiles of Ignatius; 
the genuineness of which has been at- 

i i ii^ii-7 • i A. D. 107, or 116. 

tacked and detended with an immoderate 
zeal, altogether disproportioued to their worth, or 
real weight, in any cause whatever. Though the 
question is still involved in uncertainty, we shall 
follow, with some doubt, what appears the prevailing 



selves from hint, here or hereafter. The passage quoted to justify this is Ps. 
cxxxix. 7— 10. — A. St. J. C. 

1 Of the Revelation, the date has beeu a point of much dispute ; but there seems, 
now, a general inclination to place it before the destruction of Jerusalem. Of tbe 
date of St. John's other writings, various opinions are entertained : Dr. Wither- 
spoon places the .Gospel at A. D.96,a and the Epistles at 98; Lardner dates the 
Gospel at A. T>. 68, and the Epistles at 80 and So; by Le Clerc, the Gospel is as- 
signed to the year 97, and the Epistles to 91 and 92; Dr. Owen places the Gospel 
at about a. d. 69 ; Jer. Jones, at 97 ; and Du Pin, at about A. D. 100. 



a The latest and best authorities now attest the Apocalypse to have been writ- 
ten before the destruction of Jerusalem, iu a. d. 70. Internal evidence is con- 
clusive to our mind. For external evidence may be consulted, Grotius, Lightfoot, 
Sir Isaac Newton, Stewart (Andover), Whittemore, Blunt, Gieseler, Ewald, etc., 
etc. It was written, probably, about A. D. 67. No doubt Nero's second name, 
DomiLianus, misled early writers into the idea that it was the production of the 
age of Domitian. The Apocalypse is positively a sealed book upon any hypoth- 
esis that places its production after the overthrow of the city and temple of 
Jerusalem, when ended the Jewish dispensation. — A St. J. C. 



14 



THE ANCIENT HISTOEY 



opinion, that the seven, 1 translated by Archbishop 
Wake, are, in the main, genuine. They were written, 
if by Ignatius, while he was conducted, partly by sea, 
and partly by land, on a tardy journey of nearly two 
thousand miles, 2 from Antioch to Rome, for the exe- 
cution of the sentence of martyrdom. He is said to 
have been bishop of the church in the former city, for 
about forty years, and to have been personally ac- 
quainted, in his younger days, with some of the apos- 
tles. His writings, however, are not always worthy 
of his advantages : they contain some puerile conceits, 3 
betray an inclination to the Eastern fables concerning 
the angelic world, 4 and abound with earnest injunc- 
tions of the most unreserved submission in reason, 
faith, and practice, to the clergy, whose authority is 
often expressly likened to that of God and Jesus Christ. 

We cannot ascertain the author's views concerning 
the final extent of salvation ; and the following is all 

1 Even of these there are two very different copies : the larger, which is gen- 
erally supposed to he much interpolated; and the shorter, which is followed 
by Wake, and almost universally preferred. Mosheim, however (Comment, on the 
Affairs of the Christians, etc.), seems to doubt whether the larger be not the genu- 
ine, if indeed either be so. a 

2 His route, real or fabulous, is traced from Antioch to Smyrna, Troas, over the 
^Egean, into Macedonia and througb Epirus, across the Adriatic and Tyrrhene 
Seas, to the mouth of the Tiber, and thence to Rome. The date of his journey, 
and of course of his Epistles and Martyrdom, is placed at A. D. 107, by Du Pin, 
Tillemont, Cave, and Lardner ; but at A. D. 116. by Pearson, Lloyd. Pagi. Le Clerc, 
and Fabricius. Lf the Relation of the Martyrdom of Ig?iatius, which professes to 
be written by eye-witnesses, be genuine, this disputed date is fixed at A. l>. 116. 
See § 3. Wake's Translation. 

3 Ignat. Epist. to the Ephesians. § 9. Wake's Trans. 

4 Ditto, § 19, and Epistle to the TraUians, § 5. 

a Modern researches leave little doubt of the essential genuineness of the 
shorter recension of these epistles, and of the Syriac versions (discovered in A. d. 
1S38, 1839, and 1842, by Archdeacon Tattam, in the monastery of St. Mary Dei- 
para, in Xitrian Desert. Egypt), of the Epistles to Ephesians, Romans, and Poly- 
carp.— A. St. J. C. 



OF UNIVERSAL1SM. 



15 



that seems to refer to a future state of punishment : 
" Those that corrupt families by adultery shall not 
inherit the kingdom of God. If therefore they, who 
have done this according to the flesh, have suffered 
death, how much more shall he die, who by his wicked 
doctrine corrupts the faith of God, for which Christ 
was crucified? He, that is thus defiled, shall depart 
into unquenchable fire, and so also shall he that heark- 
ens to him." 1 In another place he says, in rather a 
disjointed paragraph : " Seeing, then, all things have 
an end, there are these, two indifferently set before us, 
life and death ; and every one shall depart unto his 
proper place." 2 In the same unconnected manner, he 
says again : "For what remains, it is very reasonable 
that we should return unto a sound mind, whilst there 
is yet time to return unto God." 3 Some of these pas- 
sages may, indeed, have no allusion to a future state. 
It must, however, be remarked here, that the author 
evidently believed that certain heretics, and perhaps 
the wicked in general, will not be raised from the 
dead, but exist hereafter as mere incorporeal spirits. 4 
The Relation of the Martyrdom of Ignatius, written 
by Christian eye-witnesses of his trial and sufferings, 
contains nothing to our purpose ; we, therefore, pro- 
ceed to 

The Epistle of Poly carp, — a piece which evinces 
a more connected tenor of thought 

°. A. D. 108, or 117. 

than most of the ecclesiastical writ- 
ings of that age. The author is guilty of one 

1 Epist. to the Ephes., § 16. 

2 Epist. to the Magnesiaus, § 5. 3 Epist. to the Smyrneans, § 9. 

4 Ditto. § 2 and 7, compared with Epist. to the Trail., § 9, and Epist. to the Ro- 
mans, § 2. 



16 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



exception to his usual moderation, when he exhorts his 
brethren " to be subject to the elders and deacons as 
unto God and Christ." 1 They who receive this 
epistle as Poly carp's 2 generally suppose it to have 
been written soon after the martyrdom of Ignatius, to 
which it alludes. Polycarp was a bishop of the 
church at Smyrna, from about the year 100, till after 
the middle of the second century. He is said to have 
been the disciple of St. John; and he was certainly 
regarded, after the death of that apostle, as the most 
eminent of the Christians of Asia. 3 

The following is all that his Epistle contains in 
relation to the particular subject of this history : " To 
whom [Christ] all things are made subject, both that 
are in heaven and that are in earth; whom every 
living creature shall worship ; who shall come to 
be the judge of the quick and dead; whose blood 
God shall require of them that believe not in 
him." 4 Alluding, without doubt, to some of the 
Gnostic heretics, he says, " Whosoever does not confess 
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, he is antichrist. 
And whoever does not confess his suffering upon the 
cross, is from the devil. And whosoever perverts the 
oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that 
there shall be neither any resurrection, nor judgment, 

1 Polycarp's Epist., § 5. Wake's Trans. 

2 M. Daille and Blondel reject it, and Mosheim says it " has merely a question- 
able claim to credit." But Lardner, on the contrary, asserts that " there is scarce 
any doubt or question among learned men about the genuineness of this Epistle 
of Polycarp." 

3 By some he is considered the angel of the church in Smyrna, addressed in Rev. 
ii. 8. This, however, is doubtful, as it is probable that he was not ordained till 
after the Revelation was written. 

4 Polycarp's Epist., § 2. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 17 

he is the first-born of Satan." 1 There may also be a 
question, whether the author does not intimate that the 
future resurrection depends on faith and obedience in 
this life. 2 

To these dates succeeds a period of several years, 
from which no Christian writings have descended to 
us, except a few passages that happen to have been 
quoted, by later writers, from Papias, Quadratus, and 
Agrippa Castor ; of which, however, we shall take no 
notice, as they throw no light upon our subject. But 
it is important to remark that Papias and Aristides 
(a writer of whom nothing whatever remains) con- 
tributed, undesignedly, to pervert the simplicity of 
Christianity ; and that they serve, at the same time, 
to exemplify the manner in which corruptions grew 
up in the church. The former who was bishop at 
Hierapolis, near Laodicea, is said to have devoted 
himself to collecting traditions of the apos- 
tolic doctrine and sayings ; but being very 
credulous and of a weak mind, he received, with 
little discrimination, whatever was related to him. 
Having thus formed a collection of idle tales and 
foolish notions, he published them to the world as 
the authoritative instructions of Christ and his 
apostles. Such was the character of the church, 
that his work appears to have been well re- 
ceived ; and it certainly met with considerable 

1 Ditto, § 2 and 7. 

2 Ditto, § 2 and 5. If Clemens Romanus and Polycarp, as well as Ignatius, really 
held a partial resurrection, that of the saints exclusively, the circumstance would 
seem to prove that the notion of the Jews, or rather of the Pharisees, on this 
point, had spread pretty extensively in the church, — from Asia Minor to Rome, — 
at this early period. That such was the notion of the Pharisees, about the end of 
the first century, see Josephus, etc. 



18 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



credit among the succeeding fathers, who adopted 
some of its fictions. 1 But whatever were the 
injurious effects of these pretended traditions, the 
cause of truth sustained a much greater detriment 
from the gradual incorporation of the Grecian 
philosophy. Aristides was probably the first pro- 
fessed philosopher from the Grecian schools, who 
took an active part in support of Chris- 

A. D. 124—126. . 1 1 L 

tianity. But he appears, unhappily, to 
have clothed it in the robe of the Academy ; for 
Jerome informs us that the Apology, which he 
presented to the Emperor Adrian, in behalf of the 
persecuted Christians, was full of philosophic notions, 
which were afterwards adopted by Justin Martyr. 2 
The Grecian philosophy was nearly as incompatible 
with Christianity as was the Oriental ; but the cor- 
ruptions it introduced, flourished in the church, after 
a few years, as in a congenial soil; and, in less 
than a century, gave a new appearance to the general 
mass of doctrine considered orthodox. 

The Epistle of Barnabas is the next in order ; 
i3i unless, as has been hitherto conjectured, 
it belongs to the first century. 3 It was 
composed by some Jewish Christian, of mean abilities, 
for the purpose of representing the Mosaic law and 

1 Du Pin's Bibliotheca Patrum, Article, Papias. Papias is said to have flourished 
about A. D. 116. 

2 Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat. Art. Quadratus and Aristides. The Apology of Aris- 
tides is supposed to have been written about a. d. 124, or 126. 

3 It has been thought, by most of the learned, that the Epistle of Barnabas was 
written in the first century; and, by many, that it was the work of that Barnabas 
who was the companion and fellow-traveller of St. Paul. The latter opinion 
Mosheim treats as scarcely worthy of a refutation; and, though it has had some 
eminent advocates, it is now generally discarded. That the former opinion is also 



OF UNIVEESALISM. 



19 



other parts of the Old Testament as containing a 
hidden account of Christ and his religion. The 
allegorical and mystical interpretations, of which 
the Epistle mostly consists, present an extraordinary 
instance of blind stupidity aiming at discoveries. 1 

incorrect, I cannot but think sufficiently evident from the Epistle itself. The au- 
thor, speaking of the temple of Jerusalem, says, "Again, he [Christ] speaketh 
after this manner : Behold, they that destroy this temple, even they shall again 
build it up. And so it came to pass : for through their wars, it is now destroyed 
by their enemies ; and the servants of their enemies build it up." (Barnab. Epist. 
§ 16. Wake's Trans.) It will not be questioned that the author here speaks, 1, of 
the destruction of the temple after our Lord's ministry ; that is, of its destruc- 
tion by Titus; and 2, of attempts at rebuilding it by the servants of the Ro- 
mans, at the time of writing this Epistle. Now, it is well known that there was 
no attempt at rebuilding either the temple or the city, after their destruction by 
Titus, till tbe time of Adrian, who, in A. D. 130 or 136, sent a colony to Jerusa- 
lem to restore the city, and on or near the site of the former temple to erect a new 
one, winch he afterwards dedicated to Jupiter. This circumstance appears to de- 
termine the date of the allusion quoted from Barnabas ; and I know of nothing 
that can be urged against the hypothesis. Irenseus, about A. D. 190, is the first 
who seems to have imitated any of the expressions of this Epistle; and Clemens 
Alexandrinus, about A. D. 194, is the first who either mentioned it, or formally 
alluded to it. It is but just, however, to apprize the reader, that my hypothesis is 
not supported by the authority of the critics ; who, so far as I know, have taken 
no notice of Barnabas's allusion to the rebuilding of the temple. Mosbeim sup- 
poses the Epistle to have been written in the first century ; and he agrees with 
Cotelerius, Brucker, Basnage, and others, that its author was not the Barnabas 
who was the companion of St. Paul. Wake, Du Pin, and Lardner, on the contrary, 
ascribe it to that Barnabas, and place its date about A. D. 71 or 72. 

1 " Understand, children," says he, " these things more fully, that Abraham, who 
was the first that brought in circumcision, performed it, after having received the 
mystery of three letters, by which he looked forward in the spirit, to Jesus. For 
the Scripture says that Abraham circumcised three hundred and eighteen men of 
his house. But what, therefore, was the mystery that was made known unto 
him ? Mark, first, the eighteen ; and next, the three hundred. For the numeral 
letters of ten and eight are IH [that is, the Greek Eta, or long E, — IE are the first 
two letters of the word Jesus] . And these denote Jesus. And because the cross 
was that by which we were to find grace, he therefore adds three hundred; the 
numeral letter of which is T [the figure of the cross]. Wherefore, by two letters 
he signified Jesus, and by the thh'd, his cross. He who has put the engrafted gift 
of his doctrine within us knows that I never taught to any a more certain truth ; 
but I trust that ye are worthy of it." — Barnabas's Epist., § 9. Such is one of the 
important discoveries our author communicates ; and, strange as it may seem, the 
later fathers, even those of undoubted learning, as Justin Martyn, Irenaeus, Clem- 
ens Alexandrinus, etc., appear to have been by no means insensible to the charms 
of this kind of nonsense. 



20 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



It is worthy of remark, that of all the Christian 
writings, after the sacred Scriptures, this Epistle is the 
first in which we find the word everlasting, or eternal, 
applied to suffering ; near the end, Barnabas represents 
two ways, that of light, over which the angels of God 
are appointed, and that of darkness, where the angels 
of Satan preside ; and after describing the manner of 
walking in the way of light, he says, " But the way of 
darkness is crooked, and full of cursing ; for it is the 
way of eternal death with punishment, in which they 
that walk meet with those things that destroy their 
own souls." 1 He afterwards adds, that he who chooses 
this part shall "be destroyed, together with his works. 
For this cause, there shall be both a resurrection and 
a retribution." 2 Throughout his Epistle he says noth- 
ing of universal salvation ; and it appears, from what 
we have quoted, that he believed in a future state of 
punishment. But whether he thought it endless can- 
not be determined ; since the word everlasting or eter- 
nal was used, by the ancients, to denote indefinite 
rather than interminable duration. 3 

The last, as well as the longest, of the works of the 
Apostolical Fathers, so-called, is that effusion 
of second childishness, The Shepherd of 
Hermas 4 It was written at Eome, by a brother of 

IBarnabas's Epistle {Wake's Translation), §§ 18 and 20. 

2 Ditto, § 21. 

3 See instances of this, in the next chapter, sects, iii. iv. xi., and in succeeding 
chapters. 

4 It had long been debated, by the learned, whether this work was composed in 
the first century, by that Hermas whom St. Paul mentions (Rom. xvi. 14) ; or in the 
second century, by another Hermas, brother to Pius, Bishop of Rome. But the 
question was finally decided by a fragment of a work of the second century, 
brought to light by Muratori : * k Hermas, brother to Pius, bishop of the church in the 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



21 



the bishop of that city ; but it betrays an ignorant 
and imbecile mind, in absolute dotage. Its object 
appears to have been to excite the professors of 
Christianity to more uprightness, zeal, and abstraction 
from the business as well as ordinary pleasures of life ; 
and this the author strives to effect by relating pre- 
tended visions, and by introducing instructions from 
an angel, who occasionally appeared to him, as he as- 
serts, in the habit of a shepherd. But the conversa- 
tion he attributes to his celestial visitants is more 
insipid than we commonly hear from the weakest of 
men. 

Without extracting at full length, as in the case of 
former works, the several passages which seem to have 
relation to our subject, it is sufficient to observe, that 
Hermas lias left nothing to determine his views of the 
final extent of salvation, unless it may be gathered, 
from the following, that he totally precludes some of 
the human race from all prospect of bliss : he teach- 
es that a Christian, if he sin after his baptism, may 
possibly be allowed the privilege of one repentance, 
and of one only ; 1 but that for such as apostatize from 

city of Rome," says this fragment, " wrote very lately, in our own time, The Shep- 
herd, at Rome. « (See Mosheim's Commentaries on the Affairs of the Christians, 
etc., Eccl. Hist, of the First Cent., § liv., notes n and o; where may he found a full 
discussion of this point.) The date of The Shepherd, therefore, cannot he much 
ealier than A. D. 150; perhaps later. 

1 Hennas, hook ii., command, iv., § 3, compared with hook i., vis. ii., § 2. 
Wake's Trans. 

« This position is not tenahle. The author of the fragment is unknown. Even 
the original language is ohscurc, and a matter of douht. This opinion only occurs 
in a note of Muratori, and in a poem falsely ascribed to Tertullian. It doubtless 
belongs to the time of Hadrian, or Antoninus Pius, — A. D. 117 — 138. It is prob- 
ably an early fiction ; but is exceedingly valuable as reflecting the thought of that, 
period. — A. St. J. C. 



22 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



the faith, and blaspheme God, there is no return. 
They have forever departed from God ; and, in the 
next world, they are to be burned, together with the 
heathen nations. 1 Strong as such language may seem, 
those acquainted with the style of the earliest fathers, 
will not, perhaps, account it decisive in favor of end- 
less perdition. We may here add, that Hermas 
supposed that the apostles, after their death, went 
and preached to the souls of those who had led pure 
and virtuous lives before Christ's birth ; and that, 
when those spirits had thus heard the gospel, they re- 
ceived water baptism, in some way untold, and then 
entered the kingdom of God. 2 He also held an opin- 
ion, common during the remainder of this century, 
that the end of the world was near at hand. 3 

We must now take our leave, for a while, of the or- 
thodox believers, and go back to an account of a very 
different kind of Christians, concerning whom we have 
not even the feeble light hitherto enjoyed to guide 
our investigations. No part of ecclesiastical history 
is involved in more uncertainty than that of the 
Gnostic heretics of the first and second 
centuries. Their own writings, except 
a few unconnected fragments, are wholly lost ; 
and the only way of attaining to an acquaintance 
with them and their sentiments is by comparing the 
faulty, and often abusive, representations of their 
zealous opposers, with the imperfect knowledge we 

1 Hermas, book iii. siniil. vi. § 2. 

2 Ditto, book iii. siniil. ix. § 16. 

3 Ditto, book i., vis. iv. § 3. 

The idea of salvation, after punishment hereafter, seems taught. B.i. vis. iii. 
ch. vii. But of punishment even after repentance. B. iii. simil. vii. 1. — A. St. J. C. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 23 

have of that system of philosophy, the Oriental, which 
they amalgamated with Christianity. 1 That they be- 
lieved in our Saviour as a messenger from the supreme 
God, and generally maintained their Christian profes- 
sion, amidst the opposition of the heathens, and the 
obloquy of the orthodox, is certain. But it is now 
considered equally certain that they believed, some 
of them, that Jesus Christ was an angelic being of the 
highest order, who came into our world with only the 
visionary appearance, not the real body, of a man ; and 
others, that Jesus alone was a mere man, with a hu- 
man soul, into whom the Christ, a high celestial spirit, 
descended at his baptism in Jordan. As to the object 
of our Saviour's mission, they are thought to have been 
perfectly agreed, that it was not to satisfy any vin- 
dictive justice in Deity, whom they considered infi- 
nitely good, but to deliver mankind from the oppressive 
service of the degenerate gods of this world, and to 
teach them how to subdue their passions, and approx- 
imate the supreme God, the fountain of purity and 
bliss. From the long-venerate^, but chimerical phi- 
losophy of the Persians, they retained the notion, that 
the material world was formed, not by the self-exist- 
ent, but by the inferior gods, called iEons, whose be- 
ing was derived through a long and intricate succession, 
as most of them thought, originally from him. 2 This 

1 1, however, attempt only to follow our modern historian, Mosheim (Ecclesiasti- 
cal History, and Commentaries on the Affairs of the Christians, etc.), with some 
help from Le Clerc (Histor. Eccl. duorum primorum, a Christo nato, Sseculorum), 
from Beausobre (Histoire de Manichee, etc.), and from the History of Heretics, in 
Lardner's Works. 

2 A few of them, perhaps, held two original, self-existent beings, an evil, as well 
as a good, deity. Such it is conjectured, was the opinion of the Saturninians, ahout 
A. D. 120, and of the Marcionites, ahout A. D. 140. This is denied, however, in 
the History of Heretics, in Lardner's Works, and also by Beausobre. 



24 



THE AXCIEXT HISTOEY 



led them to regard the God of the Jews, the Jehovah 
of the old Testament, as but a secondary being, the 
principal Maker of this world ; and they also con- 
cluded that he had apostatized, more or less, from the 
divine allegiance, inasmuch as he had arrogated to 
himself the honors of worship, and as Christ had been 
sent to annul his ancient covenant, and to overthrow 
his institutions. From the same philosophy they also 
received the doctrine of the eternity of matter, and, 
especially, of its inherent, radical depravity. Hence, 
they in general discarded the hope of the resurrection 
of the material body, which, in their view, woidd but 
perpetuate the bondage and corruption of the soul. 
"With such dislike did most of them regard the body, 
that they prescribed an excessively rigid discipline, a 
continual abstinence, in order to thwart all its inclina- 
tions, and to weaken, as far as possible, its power 
over the mind. 

Such are the common outlines of their several sys- 
tems, as laid down by the more judicious of modern 
historians, who at the same time confess and lament 
the impossibility of arriving at a satisfactory knowl- 
edge of the subject. All the Gnostics were charged, 
by their >otemporary orthodox adversaries, with be- 
ing abandoned to licentiousness ; a scandal which the 
heathens first poured forth, with unsparing liberality, 
upon the orthodox themselves, and which these, in 
turn, have as freely passed over, and doubtless from 
nearly the same motives, to the successive orders of 
heretics. 1 

1 The licentiousness, alleged by the ancient orthodox against the Gnostics, is in 
i art denied, and in part admitted, by Mosheim ; uniformly mentioned in terms of 



OF UNIVERSALIS}!. 



25 



Some of the Gnostics, perhaps some of the earliest, 
believed in the endless exclusion of a part of mankind 
from the abodes of celestial light. But, among those 
who arose in Egypt, there were many, particularly the 
Basilidians, the Carpocratians, and the Valentmians, 
who are supposed to have held an eventual restoration, 
or rather transmigration, of all human souls to a heaven 
of purity and bliss. But this tenet they appear to 
have involved in other notions, wild and chimerical 
enough to warrant the suspicion of lunacy, were it not 
for the antiquity, prevalence, and reputation of that 
whimsical philosophy from which they were derived. 

The Basilidians and Carpocratians, 

. t , t -i -i About a. d. 120. 

it is said, believed that such souls as 
here follow the instructions of our Saviour will, 
at death, ascend immediately to the happy mansions 
above ; while, on the contrary, such as neglect and 
disobey, will be condemned to pass into other bodies, 
either of men or of brutes, until by their purification 
they shall be fitted to share the joys of the incorporeal 
blest : and so, all will finally be saved. 

uncertainty by Le Clere; and -wholly denied by Beausobre; as it likewise is, in 
the History of Heretics, in Lardner's Works. The following remark deserves 
more consideration than, I fear, most readers will allow it : " This is certain, that 
as bad things were said of the primitive Christians as were ever said of the ancient, 
heretics by the Catholics [Orthodox]. Modern Reformers have been treated just 
in the same manner. (Hist, of Heretics, book i. sect. 8, Lardner's Works.) Look 
into Roman Catholic writings, and see all kinds of immoral tenets attributed to 
Luther, Calvin, and their associates ; turn to the Protestant side, and see the charge 
retorted with, at least, equal exaggeration; hear the mutual criminations of 
our modern sects, who accuse each other of principles of conduct which they never 
thought of; — and then judge how much credit should be given to ancient calum- 
nies of the same sort! It is a curious circumstance, that Mosheim. honored and 
admired, and standing on high ground in a national church, had never, himself, 
encountered the slander of bigotry ; while Le Clerc. an odious Ararinian from Ge- 
neva, and Beausobre. a Protestant refugee from France, had ample experience of 
its malignity and falsehood. The Unitarian Lardner, was, in his own country, a 
heretic of the most obnoxious kind." - 



26 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



The Basilidians were the followers of Basilides, a 
Gnostic Christian and Egyptian philosopher, who 
flourished, at Alexandria, in the early part of the 
second century, and died there between the years 130 
and 140. Though he believed in one self-existent, 
supreme, and infinitely glorious God, yet he also held 
that depraved matter had been, in one state or another, 
coeval with him. In the past ages of eternity, the 
Deity produced from himself certain iEons, who, in 
their turn, begat others, but of a rank somewhat 
inferior, and of a lower station ; and from these again 
proceeded a species still less exalted ; and so on, in 
succession, till the celestial hierarchy extended from 
the highest heaven down to the vicinity of chaotic 
matter. The lowest race of iEons, whose station 
was the nethermost heaven, undertook, at length, to 
reduce the immense material mass below them from 
its pristine state of disorder; and having formed it 
into a world, and made man with a body and a 
material soul, the Deity, approving their work, gave 
the creature a rational mind, and thus completed the 
undertaking. He then allowed these iEons to divide, 
among themselves, the government of the world they 
had formed. But they, swerving by degrees from 
their allegiance, arrogated at length divine honors 
from their creatures, grew ambitious of enlarging, 
each one, his dominion over the territory of the others, 
and for this purpose embroiled mankind in mutual 
wars, till the world became full of wretchedness and 
crime. Touched with compassion for the human race, 
God sent his Son, the first-begotten and noblest of all 
the JEons, to take up his abode in the man Jesus ; 



OF UNI VERS ALISM. 



27 



and through him to proclaim the supreme, but for- 
gotten, Deity, teach mankind to abjure the authority 
of their tyrannical gods, especially of the God of the 
Jews ; and to instruct them how to subdue their own 
sinful propensities, by mortifying their bodies, as 
well as by governing their passions. The God of the 
Jews, alarmed for his dominion, excited the people 
to apprehend and crucify Jesus ; but the Christ, the 
celestial ^Eon, had left his mortal associate, before 
the suffering man was nailed to the cross. 

Basilides taught that God is perfectly good, or be- 
nevolent, in the real sense of those words ; but that 
he inflicts the proper punishment for every wilful 
transgression, whether of saint or sinner. Reforma- 
tion and improvement are the grand objects, as he 
appears to have held, of all punishment, and of all 
God's dealings with mankind. Though he treated the 
Old Testament with respect, as the revelation of that 
dignified Being who governed the Jews, he did not 
think it inspired by the supreme God ; and he is 
accused of having also rejected some parts of the New 
Testament ; which, though possibly a fact, 1 cannot be 
satisfactorily proved. He wrote a Commentary , in 
twenty-four books, on the Gospels, which was soon 
answered by Agrippa Castor, a cotemporaiy ortho- 
dox writer. 

Basilides is thought to have been a grave and pious 
man, but bewildered by the fabulous theology of the 
East. He had a son, named Isidore, who wrote some 
books, long since lost, in illustration of their religious 



1 Mosheim thinks it credible; Beausobre sees no proof of it; and in the History 
of Heretics, in Lardner, it is disputed. Le Clerc says nothing about it. 



28 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



sentiments. His sect, though often assailed, and con- 
stantly opposed, both by the orthodox and the 
heathens, was for a long time numerous, chiefly in 
Egypt and Asia. After having continued about two 
hundred years, we find it broken and decreased in the 
fourth century ; and not long afterwards it probably 
became extinct, or perhaps coalesced with that of the 
Manicheans. 1 

The Carpocratians, who arose at the same place 
with the Basilidians, and nearly at the same time, 
agreed with them in the final salvation of all souls, 
and did not greatly differ from them in the general 
system of their doctrine. Like them, they dis- 
tinguished between the Deity and the inferior iEons 
who formed the world ; like them they believed that 
matter had existed from eternity, and was unalterably 
corrupt. They, indeed, arranged the iEons in a little 
different order ; and there is some reason to think that 
they considered our Saviour not a twofold being, 
human and angelic, but a mere man, though of more 
than ordinary wisdom and divine intelligence. He 
was appointed by Deity to teach mankind the knowl- 
edge of the true God, and to abolish the dominion of 
the arrogant makers of the world. 

This sect, which seems never to have been large, 
spread chiefly in Egypt and the adjoining parts of 
Asia ; and disappeared, probably, in little more than 
a century after its rise, if indeed it had ever been 
altogether distinct from that of the Basilidians. Its 
founder was Carpocrates, a learned Egyptian, who 

1 As to the time and cause of the disappearance of the Q-nostic sects, see Mur- 
dochs Mosheim, vol. 1, p. 233, note. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



29 



flourished at Alexandria, about the year 130. His 
son Epiphanes, was a youth of vast attainments and 
extraordinary promise ; but he died (about a. d. 
140) at the early age of seventeen, after having written 
several treatises on religious subjects. 

Their ancient opponents accuse the Carpocratians of 
avowing the most infamous principles of moral con- 
duct, and even of teaching that, to arrive at heaven, 
we must devote ourselves to the perpetration of every 
vile and licentious abomination : a calumny which, by 
its manifest exaggeration and malice, reflects only on 
its authors. Some of the learned allow no credit what- 
ever to any of the disadvantageous representations of 
their moral character ; while others refuse to exculpate 
them entirely, at the consequent expense of their or- 
thodox slanders. 1 

A sect of Gnostics, still more whimsical than either 
of the preceding, was the Valentinians. 

_ r . r . . . About A. D. 130. 

Man, m their view, was a complex being, 
consisting, 1, of the outward visible body; 2, of an- 
other body 2 within this, composed of fluid matter, and 
imperceptible to the senses; 3, of an animated soul, 
the seat of life and sensation only ; and 4, of a nobler, 
rational soul, of an angelic substance. The bodies, 
both outward and internal, were, they held, destined 
to perish; of the two souls, the animal or sensitive 

1 Among the licentious tenents charged on the Carpocratians, some of the most 
moderate and judicious of the moderns consider that of the community of women, 
as well as of goods, justly imputed to them. But in the Hist, of Heretics, in Lard- 
ner (book ii. ch. iii. § 11), this charge is, I think, fairly shown to rest on very un- 
certain authority, and to be, in itself, quite improbable. Mosheim, in his Com- 
mentaries, etc., has softened the features of the picture which he had drawn of the 
Carpocratians, in his Ecclesiastical History. 

2 At least, so asserts Mosheim, confidently ; from whom, therefore, I dare not 
wander, though, in this particular, I follow him with much doubt. 



30 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



could be saved by its obedience, or by its negligence 
bring upon itself entire dissolution at death ; but the 
rational, intelligent soul will, in all cases, be admitted 
to the realms of bliss. 

In the immediate habitation of Deity, a world of 
pure light, infinitely above the visible heavens, the 
Valentinians placed thirty iEons, divided into three 
orders. These were guarded by Horus, stationed on 
the extreme verge of the high abode, to prevent them 
from wandering off into the immense regions of chaotic 
matter, which lay around. The iEons, in process of 
time, grew envious of the distinguished and peculiar 
felicity enjoyed by the first and highest individual 
of their number, who alone was adequate to compre- 
hend the supreme Father's greatness. The ardent 
desire to attain the same divine pleasure grew 
stronger and stronger among them; until wisdom, 
the youngest and weakest of all, became excessively 
agitated. From her ungovernable perturbations sprang 
a daughter, who was immediately expelled into the 
vast abyss of rude and unformed matter without. To 
allay the agitation thus raised in the celestial realm, 
the Deity produced two new ^Eons, who instructed 
the others to be content with their limited capacity, 
and to unite all their powers in giving existence to a 
being called Jesus, the noblest and brightest of all 
the ^Eons. 

Scarcely was the tranquillity of the heavenly world 
thus restored, when the most violent commotions 
began to agitate the drear abyss without. The exiled 
daughter of Wisdom had caught some glimpses of the 
eternal radiance, and attempted to reach the glorious 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



31 



abode ; but being continually repulsed by its watch- 
ful guardian, her passions of grief, anxiety, and desire 
grew so violent, that the chaotic mass of matter, in 
which she was immersed, caught the strong contagious 
emotions, and became thereby separated into the 
different elements which exist in our world. By the 
assistance of Jesus, she formed a being who is the 
Maker and Governor of the material system. This 
Creator, having afterwards, with the same assistance, 
constructed the visible Universe, took up his abode in 
the lowest heaven, far from the refulgent habitation 
of the Deity ; and here his vanity at length transported 
him to fancy himself the only true God, and to call 
upon mankind by his prophets, especially by those he 
sent to the Jews, to worship him as such. To extri- 
cate mankind from this delusion, to reveal the Deity 
to them, to teach them piety and virtue, was Christ, 
one of the ^Eons, sent into the world. He had a real 
body, but unlike those of mortals, since it was com- 
posed of an ethereal substance ; and when he was 
baptized in Jordan, Jesus himself, in the form of a 
dove, descended into him. Thus completely con- 
stituted, our Saviour proceeded, by means of instruc- 
tions and miracles, to fulfil his ministry. The Maker 
of the world was enraged by his success, and procured 
his apprehension and crucifixion ; but not till both 
Jesus and the spiritual, rational soul of Christ had 
ascended, leaving nothing but the sensitive soul and 
the ethereal body to suffer. Like other Gnostics, the 
Valentinians denied the resurrection of the body, and 
thought the authors of the Old Testament to have 



32 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



been under the inspiration of the Maker of this 
world. 

This sect sprung from Valentine, an Egyptian, who, 
after propagating his notions, for a while, in his native 
country, went, about a. d. 140, to Rome. Here, so 
many professors embraced his views, that the church 
became alarmed, and, after thrice excommunicating 
him, succeeded in rendering his residence in Italy so 
uncomfortable that he withdrew to the island of Cy- 
prus. In this delightful and luxurious region, his sect 
nourished in quiet; and after his death, which oc- 
curred a little subsequent, perhaps, to a. d. 150, it 
was widely diffused throughout Asia, Africa, and 
Europe, and excited considerable fear in the orthodox 
churches. It existed about a century and a half ; 
when it seems to have sunk gradually into oblivion. 
Many of its sentiments, however, were then revived 
among the Manicheans, whom we shall consider in 
their proper place. 

In closing our account of these Gnostic sects, it is 
important to remark, that while the orthodox fathers 
warmly and bitterly attacked their respective systems 
at large, it does not appear that they ever selected the 
particular tenet of the salvation of all souls as obnox- 
ious. What chiefly excited their resentment and ani- 
madversions was the distinction between Deity and 
the Maker of the world, the fables of the iEons, the 
views of our Saviour's person, the rejection of the Old 
Testament, and the denial of the resurrection and of 
a future judgment. 



OF UNIVEKSALISM. 



33 



CHAPTER II. 

FROM A. D. 150 TO A. D. 190. 

It has been seen that heresies had multiplied to such 
a number, and spread to such an extent, as 
to become troublesome 1 to the regular and 
approved churches, and that several sects had estab- 
lished separate communities, in distinction from the 
common body. Most of these were of the Gnostic 
kind, already described ; but there was one which, 
though small, deserves particular mention, as consist- 
ing of that part of the original church at Jerusalem 
which continued to adhere, with unyielding tenacity, 
to the practice of the Mosaic rituals. This was the 
Nazarene, or Ebionite sect, which is said to have held 
the simple humanity of Jesus Christ. 

But from the heretics, of all kinds, we return to a 
view of the doctrine and character of the orthodox. 
Many of the vulgar superstitions of the Gentiles pre- 
vailed among them, concerning magic, the demons, 
and the poetical regions of the infernal world ; and the 
Greek philosophy, which had begun to mingle with 
the doctrine of Christ, was rapidly modifying his re- 
ligion to its own genius. The credulity of this age 
was rank, and the learning of the day, at least that of 



1 This is also evident from the circumstance that Agrippa Castor wrote a hook 
against the heretics some years before this period, and Justin Martyr a little after. 



34 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



the fathers, was too superficial to prove either a pre- 
ventive or remedy. Apostolical tradition also began 
to be urged as a proof, when it was so far lost or cor- 
rupted that even they who had been disciples of the 
apostles adduced contrary traditions on one and the 
same point ; 1 and yet upon this very precarious au- 
thority some whimsical notions 2 prevailed. To these 
shades in the picture we must add a still darker ; the 
Christians, orthodox as well as heretics, appear to have 
employed, in some cases, known falsehood in support 
of their cause. This pernicious artifice they are said 
to have derived from the Platonic paradox, that it is 
lawful to lie for the truth; but one would suppose it 
to have been suggested by their own intemperate zeal, 
rather than by any maxims of philosophy. They had 
already begun to forge books in support of their relig- 
ion, a practice which, it is thought, they borrowed 
from the heretics ; and they now proceeded to propa- 
gate accounts of frequent miracles, concerning which 
all the early writers, after the apostles, had been en- 
tirely silent. 

In the works which we have hitherto had under 
examination we can discover little that belongs to the 
Grecian literature, except the language. All their 
fanciful conceits, all their extravagancies, are either of 
that peculiar character which denotes a Jewish, at 
least Asiatic, origin ; or else are the natural effusions 

1 For instance, Polycarp visited Anicetus, Bishop at Rome, about A. D. 150, and 
held an amicable discussion with him on the proper time for holding Easter. Each, 
according to Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., Kb. v., cap. 24), alleged apostolical tradition for 
his own time, in opposition to that of the other; and they parted, but in friend- 
ship, without coming to an agreement on the point. 

2 The doctrine of the proper Millennarians, for instance. 



OF UNIVERSALIS!*!. 



35 



of a stupidity that needs not the aggravation of false 
learning to become ridiculous. But when we pass the 
Shepherd of Hernias, we enter immediately on a new 
series of ecclesiastical writings, in most of which the 
learning of the Athenian and Eoman schools is di- 
vested of its elegance, and converted into Christianity. 
This, however, we shall have occasion to exemplify, 
in detail, as we pursue the course of our examination. 

The works which have descended to us from the 
period embraced in this chapter, and which succeed 
those of the Apostolical fathers, are The Sibylline 
Oracles, The Writings of Justin Martyr, A Relation 
of the Martyrdom of Poly carp, The Oration of Ta- 
tian, The Letter of the Churches of Lyons and 
Vienne, Two Productions of Athenagoras, A Treatise 
of Theophilus, and The Works of Irenceus. 1 Through 
these, successively, we shall now attempt to follow the 
traces of our general subject. 

It will be difficult to give the reader a just notion of 
the first work, The Sibylline Oracles. 
They were forged 2 by some Christian, or 
Christians, generally supposed orthodox, for the pur- 
pose of convincing the heathens of the truth of Chris- 

1 The book of one JTermas, in ridicule of the heathen philosophers, though often 
mentioned among the ecclesiastical works of this period, is, by all, acknowledged 
to be of uncertain date, and by the best critics considered the production of a 
later age. 

2 Cave thinks the larger part of them composed about A. D. 130, and the rest 
before A. D. 192. Du Pin places them at about A. D. 160. Lardncr thinks they 
may have been completed before A. D. 169, though possibly not till A. D. 190. Jus- 
tin Martyr repeatedly refers to them ; and Hennas probably alluded to them in 
book i. vis. ii.a 

a The original Sibylline Oracles (Pagan) were destroyed b. c. 74. Very soon, 
however, new ones were collected ; and from these, with perhaps also some of 
Jewish origin (Josephus, Antiq. 1, 4, 3, of Orac. Sibyll. Ill: 35), the Christian 



36 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



tianity. The Sibyls were regarded as very ancient 
prophetesses, — of extraordinary inspiration among 
the Romans and the Greeks ; but their books, if, in- 
deed, they ever existed, had always been carefully 
concealed from the public, and consulted only upon 
emergencies, and by order of the government. The 
great veneration in which these supposed, but un- 
known, prophecies were held among the vulgar, in- 
duced some zealots to fabricate, under the name of the 
Sibyls, and in the form of ancient predictions, a nar- 
rative of the most striking events in sacred history, 
and a delineation of what was then considered the 
Christian faith. This work, which we now have with 

Sibyllines were formed. They have been variously attributed to Montanus, to 
Christians of Alexandria, to the Gnostics, and even to Tertullian ; and have also 
been deemed the productions of different age_s, — by some as reaching from about 
B. c. 200 (in some of their materials) to A. d. 500. Much of this is mere con- 
jecture. They are certainly of very early origin, and have been generally accred- 
ited to the second century, to which an important portion undoubtedly belongs. 
They were used, not only by Justin Martyr, but by Theophilus of Antioch, 
Athenagoras, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Augustine, Eusebius, etc. Opso- 
pceus, in his notes, p. 27, says the Oracles teach "that the wicked, suffering in 
hell (Gehenna), after a certain period, and through expiations of griefs, would be 
released from punishments, which was the opinion of Origen," etc. Opsop. 
Paris, 1599. 

It may, perhaps, be well to state that there is a general agreement among the 
learned to the fact that these Oracles do teach Universalism. There is an inter- 
esting note upon this point in the Universalist Quarterly, for July, 1868, written 
by an acknowledged scholar, Dr. T. B. Thayer. The learned Musardus, In His- 
toria Deorum Fatidicorum, etc., Colonise Allobrogium, 1675, p. 184, referred to 
by Dr. Thayer, affirms that the author of the Oracles says " that the damned 
shall be liberated after they shall have endured infernal punishments for many 
ages," " which was an error of Origen." Dicit damnatos liberandos postquam 
pcenas infernales per aliquot secula erunt perpessi, qui Origenis fuit error. So 
Davis, in his translation from the French of BlondePs Treatise of the Sibyls, etc., 
London, 1661, evidently takes the same view, though turning the passage referred 
to as implying that God gives men the power to save themselves. Dr. Thayer 
also well notices, that in the Latin Translation of the Oracles by Castalio (which 
is bound with the Greek of our edition), av^pc67rots is rendered homines in the pas- 
sage quoted by Dr. Ballou. The Latin of Gallaeus, 1688, Amsterdam, has homines. 
In his Dissertationes, c. xxiii.,he argues against Universalism, as taught by the 
Sibyls and Origen. — A. St. J. C. 



OF UNIVEKSALISM. 



37 



some variations, 1 in eight books of coarse Greek 
verses, was then sent into the world, to convert the 
heathens by the pretended testimony of their own 
prophetesses. It appears to have been seized with 
avidity by the orthodox Christians in general ; and all 
their principal writers 2 quoted it as genuine, and 
urged its testimonies as indubitable evidence. It is 
mortifying to relate that not one of them had the 
honesty to discard the fraud, even when it was de- 
tected by their heathen opponents. 

These books, though brought forth in iniquity, serve 
to show what sentiments existed among the Christians ; 
which is, indeed, about all the utility of the genuine 
productions of this period. They contain the earliest 
explicit declaration extant of a restoration from the 
torments of hell. Having predicted the burning of 
the universe, the resurrection of the dead, the scene 
before the eternal judgment-seat, and the condemna- 
tion and horrible torments of the damned in the flames 
of hell, the writer proceeds to expatiate on the bliss 
and the privileges of the saved ; and he concludes his 
account by, saying that, after the general judgment, 
"the omnipotent, incorruptible God shall confer an- 
other favor on his worshippers, when they shall ask 
him : he shall save mankind from the pernicious fire 

1 So think Fabricius, Du Pin, Le Clorc, Lardner, and Jortin. Others speak of 
these now extant as wholly the same with the ancient. Paley, who by calling 
them Latin verses, betrays his ignorance of them, supposes they cannot bo that 
ancient work, because such is the manifestness of their forgery that these could 
not have deceived the early fathers into a belief of their genuineness. (Evidences 
of Christianity, part i., chap, ix, sect, xi.) But all this he might have said, with 
equal propriety, of the very passages which they actually quoted. They were 
probably aware of the forgery. 

2 Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, Clemens Alexandrinus, 
and the succeeding fathers. 



38 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



and immortal agonies. This will he do. For, hav- 
ing gathered them, safely secured from the unwearied 
flame, and appointed them to another place, he shall 
send them, for his people's sake, into another and an 
eternal life, with the immortals on the Elysian plain, 
where flow perpetually the long, dark waves of the 
deep sea of Acheron." 1 

This work is full of the fables of the Greeks con- 
cerning demons, the Titans or giants, and the in- 
fernal regions. The world was to be burned about 
the end of the second century ; and then all mankind 
were to be brought forth from the secret receptacle of 
the dead to judgment ; when the vicious and abomi- 
nable should be condemned to an intense fiery torment, 
repeatedly called everlasting, and described nearly in 
the language of the heathen poets, and with many of 
the circumstances they employed. The righteous, on 
the contrary, were to be received into a heaven too 
nearly resembling the Elysian fields ; 2 and finally, at 
their request, the damned were to be admitted to the 
like happiness. 3 

1 Sibyll. Oracular, lib. ii p. 212, edit. Opsopcei, Paris, 1667. 

2 All these particulars may be found in lib. ii. 

3 The following prophecy of the final conflagration may amuse, as a specimen 
of the author's descriptions: Elijah, "the Thesbite, shall descend from heaven, 
drawn in a celestial car, and show the whole world the three signs of the 
destruction of all life. Woe unto them whom that day shall overtake oppressed 
with the burden of the womb ; woe unto them who shall nurse children at the 
breast, and unto those who shall dwell near the waters. Woe unto them who 
shall see that day; for from the risiug to the setting sun, and from the 
north to the south, the whole world shall be involved in the gloom of hideous 
night. A burning river of fire shall then flow from the lofty heavens, and utterly 
consume the earth, the vast ocean with its cerulean abyss, the lakes, rivers, 
fountains, the horrible realm of Pluto, and the celestial pole. The stars in heaven 
shall melt and drop down without form. All mankind shall gnash their teeth, 
encompassed on every hand with a flood of fire, and covered with burning cinders. 
The elements of the world shall lie forsaken : the air, the earth, the heavens, the 
sea, the light, and nights and days be confounded."— Lib. ii., p. 201. 



OF UNIVEKSALISM. 



39 



We proceed to the writings of the renowned Justin 
Martyr, the first professed scholar of the 
Grecian philosophy, whose productions 
in favor of the Christian religion have reached us. He 
was a native of Neapolis, the ancient Sichem, in Pal- 
estine. Having sought, as he says, for the knowledge 
of the true God, among all the sects of heathen phi- 
losophers, he was at length converted to Christianity 
by the conversation of an old man ; but he never laid 
aside the peculiar habit nor the profession of the 
Platonists. He engaged, however, with great zeal 
and boldness in the Christian cause, for which he 
wrote two Apologies: one, addressed to the Emperor 
Antoninus Pius, about a.d. 150, and the other about a.d. 
162, to the succeeding emperor, Marcus Antoninus, 
and to the Senate and People of Rome. 1 It was in 
this city, where he had resided for many years, that 
he sealed his testimony by martyrdom, about a. d. 166. 

His profession of philosophy, his extensive though 
cursory reading, together with his zeal and piety, se- 
cured him a great reputation and influence among the 
early fathers, who lacked the discernment to perceive 
his want of sober judgment, and to discover the fre- 
quent mistakes into which his carelessness and gross 
credulity betrayed him. His early heathen notions, 
so far from being dispelled by the light of truth, were 
only modified to his new religion, and the more fondly 



1 Cave, Pagi, Basnage, and Le Clerc date Justin's First Apology at about A. D. 
140; Massuet, 145; The Benedictine Editors and Tillemont, Grabe, Du Tin, and 
Lardner, at 150. The Dialogue with Trypho was written certainly after the First 
Apology, but perhaps before the Second, which is generally placed at the year 
162. Besides these three works, some attribute to him Two Orations to the 
Greeks, and the Epistle to Diognetus. 



40 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



cherished, as they now formed part of a system he 
deemed sacred. Angels, he supposes, once descended 
to the earth, became enamored of women, and in 
their embraces begat the demons. These demons, 
learning from the prophets the principal events in 
Christ's life and administration, fabricated, in order to 
imitate them, the stories of the heathen mythology. 
They first instituted idolatry, and they still continue 
to allure men to practise it, by the mysterious tricks 
they perform for the purpose ; and all this, out of a 
desire to feed on the fumes of the sacrifices and liba- 
tions. 1 Nothing can be more wonderful than the va- 
ried part which the demons perform in this world, ac- 
cording to Justin's representations. They labored, 
however, under one essential disadvantage ; for our 
author assures us, that the Christians, in his time, had 
the miraculous gift of exorcising them at pleasure, 
whatever shape they assumed, or wherever they con- 
cealed themselves. 2 The reader cannot be surprised 
that Justin applied and explained Scripture without 
the least regard to rational interpretation. 

His opinion concerning the future state of mankind 
was, that all souls, after death, are reserved in a cer- 
tain place, probably the Infernum of the Latins, till 
the general resurrection and judgment ; when the 
righteous, whether Christians or virtuous heathens, 
such as Socrates and Plato, shall reign with Christ a 
thousand years upon the earth, and then be admitted 
to the celestial mansions ; 3 while the wicked shall be 

1 Justini. Apolog. Prim., p. 61, edit. Paris. 

2 Apol. Secund., p. 45, and passim. 

3 Compare Dialog, cum. Tryph.p. 223, 306, Apol. i., p. 71; Apol. ii.,p. 83, etc., edit. 
Paris, 1742. 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



41 



condemned to a punishment which he frequently calls 
everlasting. 1 In another place, however, he states 
his opinion upon this last point more particularly, and 
intimates that the wicked will be, eventually, annihi- 
lated : " Souls," says he, "are not immortal . 
I do not say that all souls will die. Those of the 
pious will remain [after death] in a certain better 
place, and those of the unholy and wicked in a worse, 
all expecting the time of judgment. In this manner, 
those which are worthy to appear before God never 
die ; but the others are tormented so long as God wills 
that they should exist and be tormented . . . 
Whatever does or ever will exist in dependence on the 
will of God is of a perishable nature, and can be an- 
nihilated so as to exist no longer. God alone is self- 
existent, and by his own nature imperishable, and 
therefore he is God ; but all other things are begotten 
and corruptible. For which reason souls both suffer 
punishment and die." 2 

It was about this period, that the venerable Poly- 
carp olosed an aged and pious life, amidst 
the flock he had long cherished in the 
great city of Smyrna. Exhausted nature was not per- 
mitted to expire in quiet decay; the persecuting 
heathens sought him out, and crowned him with the 
honors of martyrdom. The Relation of his Martyr- 
dom, written, 3 if genuine (of which there is some 

1 Apol. Prim., pp. 57, 64, etc. 

He says the devil will be punished through an endless duration, anepavTov 
aiHiva. I Apol. c. xxviii. — A. St. J. C. 

2 Dialog, cum. Tryphone pp. 222, 223. a 

3 Probably very soon after the martyrdom it relates; which is placed by Pearson 



Compare c. v. vi. — A. St. J. C. 



42 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



doubt) , by his own church at Smyrna, asserts that the 
martyrs hoped, by suffering the momentary torments 
of their cruel death, "to escape that fire which is eter- 
nal and shall not be extinguished." 1 And Poly carp 
himself is represented, by these writers, as reminding 
the Proconsul, before whom he was arraigned and 
tried, of "the fire of future judgment, and of that 
eternal punishment which is reserved for the un- 
godly." 2 

This Relation, though composed apparently by 
plain, unlettered men, and manifestly free from the 
corruptions of the Greek philosophy, affords a mod- 
erate specimen of the hyperbolical genius of that age. 
When the flame, say the writers, had arisen to a great 
height around Polycarp at the stake, it made a sort of 
arch, leaving him untouched in the midst ; while a 
rich odor, as of frankincense, proceeded from his body, 
and filled the air. The executioners, perceiving that 
they could not destroy him by burning, struck him 
through with a dagger ; upon which there came from 
him such a quantity of blood as extinguished the 
flames ! so that it " raised an admiration in all the 
people to consider what a difference there was between 
the infidels and the elect." 3 

Tatian the Syrian, a convert from heathenism, and 
the scholar, perhaps, of Justin Martyr, was a 
man of considerable Greek reading, and the . 

in A. D. 147 ; by Usher and Le Clerc in 169 ; and by Petit in 175. Polycarp visited 
Rome while Anicetus was bishop there ; to which office the latter is commonly 
supposed to have been chosen as late as A. r>. 150. 
f Relation of the Martyrdom of Polycarp, § 2. Wake's Translation. 

2 Ditto, § 11. 

3 Ditto, §§ 15, 16. 



OF UNIVERSAUSM. 



43 



author of several works ; of which only his Oration 
against the Gentiles is extant. In this he represents 
that such souls as have not the truth or knowledge of 
God die with the body, and with it rise to judgment, 
at the end of the world ; when they are to undergo " a 
death in immortality." 1 To the wicked demons he 
assigns the same final doom. 2 It is sufficiently evident 
that Tatiau was, at this time, like his master, a follower 
of the Platonic philosophy ; but towards the end of his 
life he ran into heresy, by prohibiting marriage, wine, 
and divers sorts of meat, and by advocating certain 
Gnostic notions. 

In order to embrace everything that relates to our 
subject, we must insert a small fragment from 
an Ecclesiastical History by Hegesijjpus , an 
author whose works are lost, but who is suspected of 
having been a weak and credulous writer. He relates 
that when some of our Saviour's kindred were called 
before the Emperor Domitian, and questioned on the 
nature of the kingdom they attributed to Christ, they 
answered that it was merely celestial, and would take 
place "at the consummation of the world, when he 
should come in his glory, judge the quick and the 
dead, and reward every man according to his works." 3 

1 Tatiani Assyr. Contra Grccc. Orat., §§ 6 and 13, a inter. Justini Martyr. Opp. 
edit. Paris, 1742. This Oration is placed by Lardner between A. D. 165 and 172. 

2 Ditto, § 14. 

3 Eusebii Hist. Eccl., lib. iii., cap. 20. Lardner dates Hegisippus's History at the 
year 173. 

« There is nothing in § 6, to this effect. In § 13 the language is, " The soul in 
itself, O Greeks, is not immortal, but mortal. But it is possible for it not to die. 
At death it is dissolved with the body, if it is ignorant of the truth ; but it after- 
wards rises again, at the end of the world, united with the body, receiving death 
by punishment in imm ortality" — Qo.vo.tqv Sia Ti/u.wpi'as ev aOavavia. Aa/ASavovaa, 
—A. St. J. C. 



44 



THE ANCIENT HISTOKY 



This is evidence of the opinion of Hegesippus ; but 
no historian would probably consider it as authority 
for the sentiments of the persons he mentions. The 
whole story, indeed, is now suspected to be fabulous. 

The Epistle of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne, 
a d 177 g enera lly supposed to have been written by 
the celebrated Ireneeus, claims but a moment's 
attention. It gives an affecting, though perhaps ex- 
aggerated, account of the terrible persecution and 
martyrdom of the Christians in those two cities, dur- 
ing the reign of the -philosophical emperor, Marcus 
Aurelius. Of one Byblias, who through weakness 
had at first recanted her profession, it is said, "that in 
the midst of her torments she returned to herself, 
waking as it were out of a deep slumber ; and, call- 
ing to recollection the everlasting punishment in hell, 
she, against all men's expectations, reproved her tor- 
mentors." 1 

The next, in order, is Athenagoras, an Athenian 
philosopher, and probably, for a while, 
master of that distinguished Christian 
seminary, the Catechetical School at Alexandria in 
Egypt. He addressed to the Emperor Marcus Aure- 
lius and to his son Commodus, an Apology for the 
Christians ; and wrote a Treatise on the Resurrection, 
to remove the objections of the heathens, and to con- 
vince them, by philosophical reasonings, of the truth 
of that doctrine. 2 Though a learned and polite writer, 

1 Eusebii Hist. Eccl., lib. v., cap 1. Lardner assigns this Epistle to the year 177. 

2 His Apology is placed by Lardner at A. D. 17& His Treatise on the Resurrec- 
tion was probably -written soon afterwards, a 

a Comp. c. xviii; c. xxv.— A. St. J. C. 



OF UNTVERS ALISM . 



45 



little notice was paid him or his works, by the early 
fathers. 

He asserts, as a manifest fact, "that the righteous 
are not properly rewarded, nor the evil punished in 
this life ; " and contends that there is no ground on 
which we can vindicate the ways of Providence and 
maintain the justice of God, but by admitting a resur- 
rection to a state of retribution. At the future judg- 
ment, says he, "rewards and punishments will be dis- 
tributed to all mankind, as they shall have conducted 
well or ill ; " 1 but of the duration of suffering he has 
left us no intimation. He treats it as a conjecture not 
unreasonable, that the brutes may be raised from the 
dead, and afterwards remain in subjection to man. 2 
As to the mode of governing the universe, he says 
that God has distributed the angels into different ranks 
and orders, and assigned to them the care of the ele- 
ments, the heavens, and the earth. But the angel 
presiding over matter, together with some others, 
swerving from their allegiance, fell in love with women, 
and begat giants ; and those rebellious spirits now 
wander up and clown the earth, opposing God, excit- 
ing lust, and upholding idolatry, that they may refresh 
themselves with the blood and steam of sacrifices. 3 

Of Theophilus, bishop of the church at Antioch, we 
have only one work remaining : a Treatise in 
defence of Christianity, addressed to Autoly- 
cus, a learned heathen. There are sufficient proofs 
that our author was a man of at least a moderate de- 



1 Athenagor. De Resurrec. passim, particularly the latter part. 

2 Ditto, near the beginning. 

3 Athenagorse Legat. passim. 



46 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



gree of learning; but, like most of his cotempo- 
raries, he was unhappily an admirer of the Greek phi- 
losophy, and a believer in the vulgar superstitions of 
the heathens. His views of future punishment may be 
discovered from his exhortation to Autolycus : " Do 
you also studiously read the prophetic Scriptures, and 
you will have their safer light to enable you to shun 
everlasting torments." Soon afterwards he says of the 
unbelieving and abominable, to them there will be 
wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish ; and, 
at length, everlasting fire shall be their portion." 1 
We arrive, at last, to the writings of that distin- 
guished father, Irenaeus. Born and 

A. D. 180— 190. f ' 

brought up m Asia Minor, he attended, 
in his youth, the discourses both of the venerable 
Polycarp, and of the weak, injudicious Papias ; and 
perhaps enjoyed some acquaintance with those who had 
personally conversed with the apostles. At a later 
period he travelled into France, where his piety, his 
zeal and devotedness to the Christian cause, together 
with his acquirements, rendered him conspicuous, and 
at length elevated him to the bishopric of the church 



1 Theophili ad Autolycum, lib. i., cap. 14, inter Justini Martyr, Opp. edit. 
Paris, 1742. Lardner places this work at A. D. 181. 

In another place, however, b. ii. c. xxvi., he seems to teach a final universal restora- 
tion. It reads : " God showed great kindness to man in that he did not suffer him to 
remain forever in sin; but as a kind of punishment cast him out of Paradise, in order 
that, having expiated by punishment, within an appointed time, the sin, and having 
been disciplined, he might subsequently be restored. Wherefore, also, when man 
had been formed in this world, as is made known mystically in Genesis, as if he 
had twice been placed in Paradise; so that the one was fulfilled when he was 
placed there, and the other will be fulfilled after the resurrection and judgment. 
For just as a vessel which, after it has been made, has some flaw, is remade or 
remoulded, that it may become new and right, so it comes to man by death. 
For in some way or other he is broken up, that he may come forth in the resur- 
rection whole, I mean spotless, and righteous, and immortal." — A. St. J. C. 



OF UXIVE i . SALISM . 



47 



at Lyons. But, notwithstanding his advantages, there 
are some things in his principal remaining work, that 
Against Heresies, 1 which show that he yielded to the 
whimsical and credulous turn of the age, if, indeed, 
that were not also his own character. Miracles, he 
says, even from raising of the dead down to the cast- 
ing out of demons, were, in his time, frequently per- 
formed by Christians ; so that it was " impossible to 
reckon up all the mighty works which the church per- 
formed, every day, for the benefit of the nations." 2 
With the Greek philosophy he was not so thoroughly 
imbued as Justin Martyr ; but, like his master, Papias, 
he was an assiduous collector of apostolic traditions, 
and upon their authority advanced some very ridicu- 
lous notions. 3 Some of his allegorical interpretations 4 
of Scripture, too, will almost vie, in contemptible ab- 
surdity, with those of Barnabas. We remark, once 
for all, that the principal writers mentioned in this 
chapter agreed in attributing to the Scriptures a 
double meaning, a hidden and mysterious as well as 
the obvious. 

With regard to the future state, Irenseus supposes 
that souls are, after death, reserved in some invisible 
place, the Infernum of the heathens, whither Christ 

1 This is a large, and in many respects a valuable work. Lardner thinks it to 
have been published not long after A. D. 178; Tillemont, near 190. 
2Iren. Adv. Hajres, lib. ii., cap. 57. 

3 In the Millennium, says he, " there shall grow vineyards, having each ten thou- 
sand vine-stocks ; each stock ten thousand branches; each branch ten thousand 
twigs; each twig ten thousand bunches; each bunch ten thousand grapes; and 
each grape, when pressed, shall yield twenty-five measures of wine. And when 
any of the saints shall go to pluck a bunch, another bunch will cry out, lam better, 
take me, and bless the Lord through me. In like manner, a grain of wheat sown, 
Bhall bear ten thousand stalks ; each stalk ten thousand grains ; and each grain ten 
thousand pounds of the finest flour," etc. Ditto, lib. v., cap. 32, 33. 

4 Ditto, lib. iv., cap. 42, and lib. v., cap. 8. 



48 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



went and preached after his crucifixion, delivering 
from sufferance those who then believed. At the end 
of the world, which was then very near at hand, all 
were to be raised, and brought to judgment, when the 
just should be admitted to a thousand years' reign 
with Christ upon earth, preparatory to endless bliss in 
heaven ; but the unjust should be sent into inextin- 
guishable and eternal fire. 1 Here, he appears to think, 
they will be annihilated : he contends that souls or 
spirits, like all other created things, depend entirely 
on the upholding providence of God, for their contin- 
uance in being, and that they can " exist only so long 
as he wills. For," says he, " the principle of existence 
is not inherent in our own constitution, but given us 
by God. He who cherishes this gift, and is thankful 
to the Giver, shall exist forever ; but he who despises 
it, and is ungrateful, deprives himself of the privilege * 
of existing forever. Therefore, the Lord said, If ye 
have not been faithful in a little, who ivill give you that 
which is greater? (Luke xvi. 11) ; signifying that he 
who is ungrateful to him for this temporal life, which 
is little, cannot justly expect from him an existence 
which is endless." 2 

It is in Irenaeus that we meet with the earliest at- 
tempt at a formal summary of the faith, as held by 
the orthodox churches in general ; and, on this account, 
his compendium, or creed, is worthy of particular 
notice. In opposition to all the peculiar tenets of the 
Gnostics, he brings forward the system of doctrine 
which, he says, "the churches, though scattered into 



1 Iren. Adv. Hasres, lib. v., cap. 27, and passim. 

2 Ditto, lib. ii., cap. 64. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



49 



all parts of the world, had received from the apostles 
and their disciples, namely, To believe in one God, 
the omnipotent Father, who made heaven, and earth, 
and sea, and all things in them ; in one Jesus Christ, 
the Son of God, incarnate for our salvation ; and in 
the Holy Ghost, who by the prophets declared the 
dispensation and coming of Christ, his birth of a vir- 
gin, his suffering, his resurrection from the dead, his 
ascension in his flesh into heaven, and his coming from 
heaven, in the glory of the Father, to gather together 
in one all things, and to raise the flesh of all mankind ; 
that unto Jesus Christ, our Lord, Saviour, and King, 
according to the will of the invisible Father, every 
knee shall bow, of things in heaven, on earth, and 
under the earth, and every tongue confess to him ; and 
that he shall pass a righteous sentence upon all, and 
send wicked spirits, and the angels who have trans- 
gressed, together with ungodly men, into eternal fire, 
but give life to the righteous who have kept his com- 
mandments and abided in his love, either from the 
beginning or after repentance, and confer on them 
mortality and eternal glory." 1 

A great number of the early productions of the 
orthodox, and all those of the heretics, are lost, and 
with them, probably, some information upon the 
subject of our history. Thus far, however, we have 
carefully produced, in his own words, the opinion of 
every writer whose works are extant ; we have also 
presented the views of the heretics upon this subject, 

llren. Adv. Hseres, lib. i., cap. 2. Any one, acquainted with the notions attributed 
to the Gnostics, will instantly perceive that almost every expression in this creed 
was framed for the purpose of opposing them ; as, indeed, is intimated by the 
manner in which Irenasus introduces the passage. 



50 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



from the best authorities within our reach. To the 
reader belongs the privilege of such reflections as the 
whole case, now pretty fully laid before him, may 
suggest. We will, however, observe that of the or- 
thodox writers, nearly all allude to, or expressly 
assert, a future judgment and a future state of punish- 
ment : seven 1 call it the everlasting, the eternal fire or 
torment ; but out of these there are three who cer- 
tainly did not think it endless, since two of them 
believed the damned would be annihilated, and the 
other asserted their restoration to bliss. What were 
the views of the remaining four upon this point 
cannot be determined; for the circumstance just 
mentioned shows^ that their use of the word everlast- 
ing is no criterion. The others whom we have 
passed in review are silent with regard to the dura- 
tion of misery. 

To these remarks we must add, that such of the 
Gnostic sects as are thought to have held the salvation 
of all souls still flourished ; but their history, like 
that of all the heretic Christians, is obscure and un- 
certain. 

Among the orthodox, it is curious to mark the 
seeming progress of sentiment concerning a future 
state of punishment. In their earliest writings, that 
of Clemens Eomanus and those of Ignatius, it is either 
wholly omitted, or else expressed in the most in- 
definite manner. Afterwards, we find it introduced 
as a peculiar motive of terror ; and as such it became 

1 Namely, Barnabas, Hennas, Sibylline Oracles, Justin Martyr, Relation of 
Polycarp's Martyrdom, Tbeopbilus, and Irenaeus in the Letter of the churches of 
Lyons and Vienne, and in his work Against Heresies. 



OF UNI VERBALISM. 



51 



more and more employed, even by those who ex- 
pressly assigned it a limited duration. When the 
Greek philosophy and heathen superstitions began to 
prevail in the church, they soon succeeded in deline- 
ating the whole topography of the infernal realm, 
pointed out its divisions, described its regulations, 
and familiarly brought to light all its secrets. 

In the succeeding parts of our work we shall not 
detain the reader with a distinct paragraph for every 
ecclesiastical writer; but direct our attention more 
specially to those authors and those parties who 
advocated the salvation of all mankind. In the mean 
time, however, we shall aim at such a representation 
as will afford a general view of the notions entertained 
by the church at large, in relation to that subject. 



52 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



CHAPT1E III. 

FROM A. D. 190 TO A. D. 230. 

Of all the Christian fathers, before Origen, the 
most illustrious writer, and the most 

A. D. 190 to 196. . 

renowned for extensive erudition, was 
Clemens Alexandrinus. That he was a Universalist 
is alleged against him by some of the learned, 1 and 
sufficiently manifest from his works yet extant; 
though he seldom affords us a direct and positive 
assertion to this point. He uniformly asserts, how- 
ever, and illustrates, the universal goodness of God, 
the benevolent nature of justice, the salutary design 
and effect of punishment both here and hereafter, the 
purification of the damned in hell, and their deliver- 
ance from suffering and exaltation to bliss. 

"The Lord," says he, "does good unto all, and 
delights in all ; as God, he forgives our trangressions, 

1 The learned and orthodox Daille says : "It is manifest, throughout his works, 
that Clemens thought all the punishments that God inflicts upon men are salutary, 
and executed by him only for the purpose of instruction and reformation. Of this 
kind he reckons the torments which the damned in hell suffer. . . . From which 
we discover that Clemens was of the same opinion as his scholar Origen, who every- 
where teaches that all the punishments of those in hell are purgatorial, that they 
are not endless, but will at length cease, when the damned are sufficiently purified 
by the fire." Dallsei De Usu Patrum, lib. ii., cap. 4. 

Archbishop Potter, having spoken of Origen's belief in the salvation of all the 
damned, and of the devil himself, adds, " from which opinion Clemens does not 
appear to have differed much, as he taught that the devil can repent, and that 
even the most heinous sins are purged away by punishments after death." V. Not. 
in Clem. Alexand. Strom., lib. vi., p. 794, edit. Potter, 1715. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



53 



and as Man, he teaches and instructs us that we may 
not sin. Man is, indeed, necessarily dear to God, 
because he is his workmanship. Other things he made 
only by his order; but man he formed by his own 
hand, and breathed into him his distinguishing 
properties. Now, whatever was created by him, 
especially in his own image, must have been created 
because it was, in itself, desirable to God, or else 
desirable from some other consideration. If man was 
made because he was in himself desirable, then God 
loved him on account of his being good ; and there 
certainly is in man that lovely principle, called the 
breath or inspiration of God. But if it was on ac- 
count of some other desirable end that he was made, 
then there could be no other reason why God should 
create him, than that God could not otherwise be a 
benevolent Maker, nor his glory be displayed to the 
human race. . . . And, indeed, in either case, man 
may be said to be, in himself considered, a being 
desirable to God, since the Almighty, who cannot err 
in his undertakings, made him just such as he desired. 
He therefore loves him. How, indeed, is it possible 
that he should not love him, for whom he sent his 
only begotten Son from his own bosom ? " 1 

There are some, 2 says Clemens, who deny that the 
Lord is good, because he inflicts punishments and 
enjoins fear. To this he replies, that "there is nothing 
which the Lord hates ; for he cannot hate anything 
and yet will that it should exist ; nor can he will that 
anything should not exist, and at the same time cause 

1 Clem. Alexand. Paedagog., lib. i., cap. 3, pp. 101, 102, edit. Potter. 

2 Clemens here alludes to the Marcionites, a Gnostic sect. 



54 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



it to exist. Now as the Lord is certainly the cause of 
whatever exists, he cannot, of course, desire that any- 
thing which is, should not be ; and therefore he cannot 
hate anything, as all exist by his own will." And, 
continues our author, "if he hates none of his works, 
then it is evident that he loves them all, especially 
man above the rest, who is the most excellent of his 
creatures. Now whoever loves another wishes to 
benefit him ; and therefore God does good unto all. 
He does not merely bless them in some particulars, 
yet neglect all care over them ; he is both careful for 
them, and solicitous for their interests." Con- 
sistently with this, Clemens adds, that God's "justice 
is, of itself, nothing but goodness ; for it rewards the 
virtuous with blessings, and conduces to the improve- 
ment of the sinful. There are many evil affections 
which are to be cured only by suffering. Punishment 
is, in its operation, like medicine : it dissolves the 
hard heart, purges away the filth of uncleanness, 
and reduces the swellings of pride and haughtiness ; 
thus restoring its subject to a sound and healthful 
state. It is not from hatred, therefore, that the Lord 
rebukes mankind." 1 

"It is the office of salutary justice," says he, in an- 
other place, "continually to exalt everything towards 

1 Paedagog., lib. i., cap. 8, pp. 135—140. N. B. — I have attempted in this para- 
graph to compress the argument which Clemens, in his diffuse style and rambling 
method, spreads over two or three folio pages.« 

a Comp. Strom, i., xxvi. 11, " and punishment, in virtue of its being so, is the 
correction of the soul." And viii., xvi. 24. " But as children are chastised by 
their teachers, or tbeir father, so are we by Providence. But G-od does not pun- 
ish; for punishment is retaliation for evil. He chastises, however, for good to 
those who are chastised, collectively and individually." — A. St. J. C. 



OF UNTVERSALISM. 



55 



the best state of which it is capable. Inferior things 
are adapted to promote and confirm the salvation of 
that which is more excellent ; and thus whatever is 
endued with any virtue is forthwith changed still for 
the better, through the liberty of choice, which the 
mind has in its own power. And the necessary chas- 
tisements of the great Judge, who regards all with 
benignity, make mankind grieve for their sins and 
imperfections, and advance them through the various 
states of discipline to perfection. 1 "Even God's 
wrath, if so his admonitions can be called, is full of 
benevolence, towards the human race ; for whose sake 
the word of God was made man." 2 

The same means which are employed upon earth for 
the salvation of the living are introduced, he thinks, 
among the dead, for the restoration of such as died, 
either in sin, or in ignorance and unbelief of Jesus 
Christ: "Wherefore, our Lord," says he, "preached 
also in the regions of the dead ; for says the Scripture, 
the Grave saith to Destruction, His countenance tue 
have not indeed beheld, but we have heard Ids voice. 
(Job xxviii. 22.) It is not the place, however, which 
thus speaks, but its inhabitants, who had delivered 
themselves to destruction. They heard the divine 
power and voice. And, indeed, who can suppose that 
souls [which departed ignorant of Christ] are indis- 
criminately abandoned, the virtuous and the vicious, 
to the same condemnation, thus impeaching the 
justice of providence? Does not the Scripture inform 
us that the Lord preached the gospel even to those 



1 Stromat., lib. vii., cap. 2, p. 825. 

2 Psedagog., lib. i., cap. 8, p. 142. 



56 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



who perished in the deluge, and were confined in 
prison ? 1 We have already shown that the apostles 
also, as well as their Master, preached the gospel to 
the dead. . . . Wherefore, since the Lord descended 
to hell for no other purpose than to preach the gospel 
there, he preached it either to all, or only to the Jews. 
If to all, then all who believed there, were saved, 
whether Jews or Gentiles. And the chastisements of 
God are salutary and instructive, leading to amend- 
ment, and preferring the repentance to the death of 
the sinner ; especially as souls in then- separate state, 
though darkened by evil passions, have yet a clearer 
discernment than they had whilst in the body, because 
they are no longer clouded and encumbered by the 
flesh." 2 Again he says, "Now all the poets, as well 
as the Greek philosophers, took their notions of the 
punishments after death, and the torments of fire, 
from the Hebrews. Does not Plato mention the rivers 
of fire, and that profound abyss which the Jews 
call Gehenna [hell], together with other places of 
punishment, where the characters of men are reformed 
by suffering?" 3 It would, however, far exceed our 
limits to transcribe the passages of this kind scattered 
through his writings. 

With regard to the actual salvation of all, the fol- 

1 In another place Clemens- says, " If therefore, the Lord preached the gospel to 
those in the flesh, lest they should be unjustly condemned, was it not necessary, 
for the same reason, that he should preach also to those who had departed this 
life before his advent? And as all sinful flesh perished in the deluge, we must 
believe that the will of G-od, which has the power of instructing and operating, 
confers salvation upon those who are converted by the punishments inflicted on 
them." Stromat., lib. vi., cap. 6, p. 766. 

2 Stromat., lib. vi., cap. 6, pp. 763, 764. 

3 Ditto, lib. v., cap. 14, p. 700. 



OF UNITERSALISM. 



57 



lowing are, perhaps, his fullest and most pointed ex- 
pressions : " How is he a Saviour and Lord, unless he 
is the Saviour and Lord of all ? He is certainly the 
Saviour of those who have believed ; and of those 
who have not believed he is the Lord, until, by being 
brought to confess him, they shall receive the proper 
and well-adapted blessing for themselves." 1 " The 
Lord," says he, "is the propitiation, not only for our 
sins, that is, of the faithful, but also for the whole 
world (1 John ii. 2) ; therefore he indeed saves all, 
but converts some by punishments, and others by 
gaining their free will ; so that he has the high honor, 
that unto him every lenee should bow, of things in heaven, 
on earth, and under the earth; that is, angels, men, 
and the souls of those who died before his advent." 2 

It is remarkable that Clemens, unlike the other 
ancient fathers who believed in Universalism, appears 
to have avoided, the use of such epithets and phrases 
as everlasting , forever and ever, etc., in connection with 
misery. 3 Nor does he seem to have considered the 
torments of the future state very intense, as he never 
represents them in terrific colors, nor dwells upon 
them in a way to agitate the mind with fear. When 
the virtuous Christian dies, he enters upon a mild and 
grateful discipline, which, by purifying his remaining 
faults, and supplying his imperfections, elevates him 
by degrees from glory to glory, till he arrives at 

1 Stromat., lib. vii., cap. 2, p. 833. 

2 Fragmenta. Adumbral. in Epist. I. Joban., p. 1009. 

3 Tbe only place I recollect in all bis writings, where any of these controverted 
words is applied to suffering, is Pcedagog., lib. i., cap. 8, end, p. 142. " When tbe 
soul has ceased to grieve for its sins, it is not, even then, a time to inflict upon it 
a deadly wound, but a healthful one, that by a* little grief it may escape eternal 
death." 



58 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



perfection ; but the soul of an obstinate and vicious 
infidel must, before it can begin this sublime progres- 
sion, be overcome by severe chastisement, instructed 
in the knowledge of the truth, and brought to control 
its passions. 

Like all the early fathers, Clemens held the entire 
and permanent freedom of the human will, contrary 
to the present orthodox doctrines of predestination 
and irresistible grace . Original sin and total depravity 
were unknown in his day ; as was also the modern 
notion of a mysterious and counter-natural conversion. 

We may now complete the ' sketch of his general 
system of doctrine : God, infinitely and unchangeably 
good, created man upright, though not entirely 1 per- 
fect, and designed him and all his posterity for hap- 
piness. But Adam, being left to his own free will, 
yielded to temptation ; and so, in a greater or less de- 
gree, have all mankind after him. As the world thus 
began to grow up in ignorance of God, in the indul- 
gence of vice, and under the dominion of evil demons, 
the Almighty gave, as a partial remedy, the Law to 
the Jews, and Philosophy to the Gentiles, in order to 
restrain and enlighten them in some measure, till the 
coming of Christ. Both the Law and Philosophy 
were preparatory to the Gospel ; and so far as the 
Hebrews on the one hand, and the Heathens on the 
other, preserved and practised their respective systems 
in their pristine purity, they were justified ; though 
they still needed evangelical faith to prepare them for 
heaven. At length, God was pleased to grant the 
world a full and perfect revelation ; and for this pur- 

1 Stromat., lib. iv., cap. 23, p. 632. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



59 



pose sent his Son, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, 
who was a divine agent, begotten of the Father. He 
came, not to appease God, whom Clemens thought 
originally and immutably good, but to crush the power 
of the evil demons, to impart the knowledge and 
commend the love of God to mankind, to instruct 
them in religion, and to set before them a perfect exam- 
ple of piety and virtue. That these means may become 
effectual to the salvation of the world, the whole sys- 
tem of divine providence and government is constantly 
directed to induce mankind to believe and obey their 
Saviour. To this end, the Almighty urges them by 
threatenings and punishments, and allures them by 
promises and rewards ; and if they die impenitent or 
unbelieving, a similar course is pursued with them after 
death, until they are brought to submission. After all, 
faith and obedience depend, both here and hereafter, on 
the free will of the creature ; though God, by his Holy 
Spirit, communicates impulses to all, and, by his grace, 
assists those who strive to obey. Such were his views. 

He was a hearty champion of the orthodox church 
against the heretics, particularly against all the Gnos- 
tics ; and ne has had the good, or indifferent, fortune, 
that, notwithstanding his manifest Universalism, his 
doctrine was reprehended by none of his cotempo- 
raries, nor his standing ever impeached, even in after 
ages, when the works of Origen came to be anathe- 
matized, partly on account of the same sentiment. 

Titus Flavius Clemens, usually called Clemens Al- 
exandrinus, or Clement of Alexandria, is thought by 
some to have been a native of Athens, and by others, 
of Alexandria in Egypt, where he certainly spent the 



60 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



most memorable part of his life. The precise dates 
of his birth and death are unknown ; and not the 
slightest account is preserved of his childhood an^ 
youth. It appears that, after travelling through man; 
countries in pursuit of philosophical and religious 
knowledge, he sat down at last under the instructions 
of the learned Pantsenus, a Christian philosopher, in 
Egypt. Here Clemens studied, in conformity with 
the plan of his master, to extract from all the schemes 
of philosophy then in vogue, from the Oriental as well 
as the Grecian, what he deemed their original princi- 
ples, and to form a system for himself out of all these 
combined ; though he gave a decided preference to the 
tenets of the Stoics. About the year 195, he was or- 
dained a presbyter in the church at Alexandria ; and, 
near the same time, was appointed, in the absence of 
Pantamus, to supply his place as President of the fa- 
mous Catechetical School in that city. In addition to 
the cares and labors which necessarily devolved upon 
him from these two offices, he composed, it is thought, 
at about this period, those of his works which are yet 
extant. 1 

1 These are, 1, His Exhortation to the Gentiles, designed to confute the notions 
of the heathens, and to convince them of the truth of Christianity ; 2, his Peda- 
gogue, written to instruct new converts, and to train them up to a holy and truly 
Christian life ; 3, his Stromata, a miscellaneous work, containing a more particu- 
lar illustration of the Christian doctrine, together with confutations both of the 
heathen religions, and of the heretical opinions, particularly those of the Gnostics; 
4, his Tract entitled. What Rich Man shall be saved; 5, his Epitome of the Oriental 
Doctrine of Theodotus ; and 6, his Comments on some of the Epistles of the Xew 
Testament. These Comments were formerly thought supposititious ; lout they are 
now generally considered fragments from his Hypotyposes, a work which is lost. 
His Exhortations to the Gentiles, Pasdagogue, and Stromata, are supposed to have 
heen written between A. D. 193 and 195 (Dodwell, Dissert, hi. in Irenseum, and 
Dissert, de prim. Pontif. Roman, successione. Mosheim. Dissertationes ad Hist. 
Eccl., vol. L,pp. 34—38); his Hypotyposes perhaps earlier. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



61 



Alexandria, next to Eome the most populous and 
frequented city of that age, was then the great empo- 
rium of literature, philosophy, and religion. The 
splendor of learning, which had once beamed so full 
upon Athens, seemed returned, though with many fan- 
tastic colors, to shine upon the native land of letters 
and of science. Some of the celebrity, and many of 
the advantages, which the capital of Egypt now en- 
joyed, arose, undoubtedly, from its immense library, 
the largest the world had ever seen. Seven hundred 
thousand manuscripts, deposited in two sections of the 
city, offered to the inquisitive geniuses who assembled 
from every region, all the treasures of ancient wisdom 
and folly. 

Ever since the days of the apostles, the Christians 
of this city had supported a school, founded, it is said, 
by St. Mark ; but it had always been obscure, and 
kept in rather a private manner, till the time of Pan- 
teenus. When he succeeded to its care, he brought it 
into public notice, and soon rendered it the first, in 
character and renown, of all the ancient Christian 
seminaries. 

While Clemens presided here, with distinguished 
reputation, he had the honor of instructing some who 
arose to eminence in the church, particularly Alexan- 
der, afterwards Bishop of Jerusalem, and the celebrated 
Origen. But about a. d. 202, the persecution under 
the Emperor Severus, which spread death and terror 
through the church at Alexandria, drove Clemens 
from the city. It is supposed that he embraced this 
opportunity to revisit the eastern countries ; and we 
find him, in the year 205, at Jerusalem, in company 



62 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



with his scholar, Alexander. From this place we 
trace him to Antioch ; whence he returned, it is 
thought, to Alexandria, and, in connection with Ori- 
gen, resumed, for a while, the care of the school. He 
died not far, probably, from a. d. 217. 1 

So imperfect is the account preserved of this dis- 
tinguished father. Of his learning, the ancients uni- 
formly speak in terms of admiration. His reading was 
certainly extensive, almost universal; history, poetry, 
mythology, and philosophy seem perfectly familiar to 
him ; and the sacred Scriptures, together with all that 
related to the concerns of the church, were treasured 
in his memory. With his great learning and piety, 
the placid benevolence of his disposition must have 
conspired to render him esteemed and beloved. If we 
may judge from the character of his writings, his pas- 
sions were naturally moderate, his heart benignant, 
and incapable of sourness and severity. Impartiality 
obliges us, however, to remark, that, like the rest of 
the early fathers, he wanted sober judgment; he was 
credulous, fanciful, and incorrect, ignorant of rational 
criticism, and delighted with allegorical interpretations 
of Scripture. His fondness for the heathen systems 
of philosophy was extravagant ; and it is thought that 
his example had the pernicious influence to recommend 
those systems to a more general admiration in the 
church. He was naturally of a poetical genius ; his 
style often runs into metre, and his works abound 
with quotations from the ancient poets and philoso- 
phers, as well as from the Scriptures. His method of 

1 For his life see Cave's Lives of the Fathers, and Lardner's Credibility, etc., 
chap. Clement of Alexandria. 



OF UNIVEKSALISM. 



63 



writing is careless, feeble, and sometimes very ram- 
bling. 

Passing over several writers of little note, we shall 
now make some observations on the onlv 



Origen. Cotemporary with Clemens, but belonging 
to the Western or Latin church, was the celebrated 
Tertullian, a presbyter of Carthage in Africa ; a man 
of extensive learning, of strong and vehement genius, 
but severe and morose, superstitious and fanatical, 
even when compared with those of his own age. He 
is thought to have been the first Christian writer who 
expressly asserted that the torments of the damned will 
be of " equal 1 duration " with the happiness of the blest. 

1 Tertulliani Apologet., cap. 18. At the general resurrection and judgment, 
says he, " God will recompense his worshippers with life eternal; and cast the 
profane into a fire equally perpetual and uninterrupted." See Whiston on the 
Eternity of Hell and Torments, p. 86. N. B. — Tertullian's Apology was written 
about A. D. 200.« 

« This is the only place, so far as we have discovered, where Tertullian is thus 
definite as to duration of punishment. Like all the " fathers," he speaks freely of 
" everlasting" punishment. Yet it is by no means certain that he did not look to 
the end of sin, either by the annihilation of the sinner, or his restoration at some 
time in the far-off future. In his work against Marcion, he argues against his 
(Marcion's) limitation of salvation, thus: "But since God is eternal and rational, 
thus I think : He is perfect in all things. ' Be ye perfect, even as your Father 
which is in heaven is perfect.' (Matt. v. 48.) That it is indeed imperfect has 
been already fully shown, since it is found to be neither natural nor rational. 
The same conclusion, however, shall now be made apparent by another method : 
it is not simply imperfect, but actually defective, weak, and exhausted, failing to 
embrace the full number of its material objects, and not manifesting itself in them 
all. For all are not made salvable, but a few of all the Creator's subjects, both 
Jew and Christian. Now, when the greater part thus perish, how can that good- 
ness be defended as perfect which is inoperative in most cases, is somewhat only 
in few, naught in many, succumbs to perdition, and is a partner with destruction ? 
And if so many shall miss salvation, it will not be with goodness, but with malignity. 
For as it is the operation of goodness which brings salvation, so is it malevolence 
which does not bring it. . . . So long, then, as you prefer your God to the 
Creator on the simple ground of his goodness, and since he professes to have this 
attribute as solely and wholly his own, he ought not to have been wanting in it 




A. D. 200 to 204. 




fathers of eminence, before 



64 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



This circumstance is, indeed, no proof that the same 
opinion had never been entertained before ; but we 
may safely say that, of all the early fathers, there was 
none with whose natural disposition the doctrine of 
endless misery better accorded than with Tertullian's : 
"You are fond of your spectacles," said he, in allusion 
to the pagans ; " there are other spectacles : that day 
disbelieved, derided, by the nations, that last eternal 
day of judgment, when all ages shall be swallowed 
up in one conflagration, — what a variety of spectacles 
shall then appear ! How shall I admire, how laugh, 
how rejoice, how exult, when I behold so many kings, 
worshipped as gods in heaven, together with Jove 
himself, groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness ! 
so many magistrates who persecuted the name of the 
Lord, liquefying in fiercer flames than they ever kin- 
dled against Christians ; so many sage philosophers 
blushing in raging fire, with their scholars whom they 
persuaded to despise God, and to disbelieve the 
resurrection ; and so many poets shuddering before 
the tribunal, not of Ehadamanthus, not of Minos, but 
of the disbelieved Christ ! Then shall we hear the 
tragedians more tuneful under their own sufferings ; 
then shall we see the players far more sprightly 
amidst the flames ; the charioteer all red-hot in his 
burning car ; and the wrestlers hurled, not upon the 
accustomed list, but on a plain of fire." 1 Such is the 

l Tertull., de Spectaculis, cap. 30. Written about a. d. 203 or 204. 

to anyone." B. i. c. xxiv. Comp. xxvi. — "But it would "be more unworthy in 
God to spare the evil-doer than to punish him, especially in the most good and 
holy God, who is not otherwise entirely good except as the enemy of evil, and 
that to such an extent as to show His love of good by the hatred of evil, and to 
fulfil his defence of the good by the extirpation of the evil." — A. St. J. C. 



OF UNIVERSALIS!*!. 



65 



relish with which his fierce spirit dwells on the pros- 
pect of eternal torments. His gloomy and enthusi- 
astic disposition soon led him to abandon the regular 
churches, as not sufficiently austere and visionary, and 
to join himself to the fanatical sect of Montanists. 

Next to Tertullian is Minucius Felix, another writer 
of the Western church, either a Roman or an ' 
African, a lawyer by profession, and a man 
of considerable learning. His Dialogue, the only 
work he has left us, is a popular disputation, elegantly 
written, in defence of Christianity against paganism ; 
but its beauty is somewhat sullied by a mixture of hea- 
then superstitions, and its force impaired by frequent 
declamation instead of argument. The author seems to 
assert the strict eternity of hell torments, and to rep- 
resent that his was the common opinion of Christians 
on the subject. In allusion to the Grecian fable of the 
tremendous oath of the gods, he says that Jupiter 
swears by the broiling banks of the river of fire, and 
" shudders at the torments which await him and his 
worshippers : torments that know neither measure nor 
end. For there the subtile fire burns and repairs, 
consumes and nourishes ; and as lightnings waste not 
the bodies they blast, and as JEtna, Vesuvius, and other 
volcanoes continue to burn without expending their 
fuel, so these penal flames of hell are fed, not from 
the diminution of the damned, but from the bodies 
they prey upon without consuming." 1 The objector 
to Christianity is, in another passage, represented as 



1 Minucii Fel. Dialog., cap. 34. Lardner dates this Dialogue at A. D. 210; some 
critics have assigned it to an earlier period, and others to a later, even to the year 
230. 



66 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



saying that Christians threaten all but themselves 
" with torments that never shall have an end." 1 

Clemens, Tertullian, and Mimicius Felix, in treat- 
ing of the infernal region and its torments, frequently 
adopt the language, and some of the views, of the 
ancient heathen poets. Ever since Justin Martyr, it 
had been a common opinion among the orthodox 
fathers, that at death all souls, both the righteous and 
the wicked, descended to the Hades of the Greeks, or 
Iiifernum of the Latins ; which was a subterranean 
world consisting of two general divisions , the mansions 
of the just, and the abodes of the guilty. Heie the 
separate spirits dwelt, either in joy or suffering, ac- 
cording to their different characters and deserts ; un- 
dergoing various courses of discipline and purification, 
as was thought by some ; or fixed in their respective 
stations, awaiting the decision of the approaching gen- 
eral judgment, as was represented by others. Some 
of the fathers, 2 however, do not seem to have believed 
in the conscious existence of the soul in the interval 
between death and the general judgment ; but the 
latter event, they all agreed, was near at hand, when 
the world should be destroyed by fire, Tertullian says, 
in the end of his own age. 

In concluding this chapter, it may be proper to 
give, as far as practicable, a succinct account of the 
state of Universalism at the period now under con- 
sideration. It appears, then, that of the orthodox 
Christians some believed the eventual salvation of all 
mankind, after a future punishment for the wicked ; 



1 Minucii Fel. Dialog., cap. 11. 

2 Namely, Tatian, and perhaps Miaucius Felix. 



OF UNTVEKSALISM. 



67 



while others, again, held the doctrine of endless 
misery. This diversity of opinion, however, oc- 
casioned no divisions, no controversies, nor contentions 
among them ; and both sentiments existed together in 
the church without reproach. If we may hazard a 
conjecture, the orthodox had not, generally, any fixed 
opinion on the subject. That there was a future state 
of suffering, they all agreed ; but whether it were 
endless, or would terminate in annihilation, or whether 
it would result in a general restoration, were probably 
points which few inquired into. Such, we may sup- 
pose, was the case with the orthodox churches. 

But we must not here forget the Universalists among 
the' Gnostic Christians. The Basilidians, Carpocra- 
tians, and Valentinians were now thinly scattered over 
all Christendom, and abounded in some places, par- 
ticularly in Egypt and the adjacent countries. Though 
they agreed with the Universalists among the ortho- 
dox, in the simple fact of the ultimate salvation of all 
souls, yet their denial of the resurrection and of a fu- 
ture judgment, their views concerning the creation of 
this world,- and, in short, the mass of Oriental fables, 
which they held in common with the rest of the Gnos- 
tics, deprived them of all intercourse with their breth- 
ren, except as opponents. They were Gnostics, and 
the others were Orthodox ; these were the terms of 
distinction. As Universalism, on either side, was not 
a subject of abuse, so it was not an occasion for special 
favor and friendship ; and the striking difference be- 
tween their views, on almost every particular in the 
whole circle of divinity, occasioned a perpetual alter- 
cation, in which the few instances of their mutual 



68 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



agreement were overlooked or forgotten. The entire 
body of the orthodox, whether Universalists or not, 
stood in uniform array against the Gnostics of all 
kinds ; and these, in their turn, united their various 
sects in the struggle against their common adver- 
saries. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



69 



CHAPTEE IV. 

ORIGEN. 

Meanwhile, the attention of the Christian world 
was directed to an extraordinary genius who 
had arisen in the church. The name of Ori- 
igen Adamantius had awakened an interest among 
heathens as well as believers, from Egypt and Greece 
eastward to the remotest provinces of the Roman em- 
pire. As a doctor in the church, and as a philosopher 1 
among the learned, he stood alone, without either rival 
or competitor, and enjoyed, while living, such a repu- 
tation as few, in any age, have ever acquired. 

It was about the year 230, that he published, at Al- 
exandria, among other works, his books Of Principles, 
in which he advocated, at considerable length, the 
doctrine of Universal Salvation. This work has 
come down to us only in the Latin translation by 
Rufinus, who altered it in many places, especially in 
what related to the Trinity, in order to accommodate 
its doctrine to the faith of the fourth century. This 

1 He became a philosopher, as many a one does, not by original discoveries, nor 
by his own investigations into the nature of things ; but by a thorough acquaint- 
ance with the philosophic principles and maxims he had learned from his precep- 
tors, and by his surprising, though not always happy, readiness in illustrating and 
tracing them, and in accommodating them to every case and subject which occurred. 
In one word, he was a philosopher of the schools, not of nature. Mosheim (De 
Reb. Christian, ante Constant., pp.611, 612) has drawn his character, as a phi- 
losopher, in strong, but not unfaithful colors. 



70 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



circumstance throws a shade of uncertainty, in some 
respects, upon the original character of the treatise. 
But that it contained, in its first, as well as in its 
present state, the doctrine in view, is beyond a ques- 
tion; since ancient writers, 1 who lived while the genu- 
ine Greek copies were yet extant, referred to them, 
and quoted their language, for the purpose of exciting 
the indignation, or calling forth the anathema of the 
church, against the memory of the illustrious author, 
for having asserted the restoration of every fallen, in- 
telligent creature. 

Taking, then, the translation of Eufinus for our au- 
thority, where we can obtain no better, it appears 
that Origen introduced the doctrine of Universalism 
and that of the Pre-existence of souls, together: 
" Whoever," said he, "would read and acquaint him- 
self with these subjects, so difficult to be understood, 
should possess a mature and well-instructed under- 
standing. For if he be not accustomed to such top- 
ics, they may appear to him vain and useless; or if 
his mind be already established in opposite sentiments, 
he may hastily suppose, through his own prejudice, 
that these are heretical and contrary to the faith of the 
church. Indeed, they are advanced by us with much 
hesitation, and more in the way of investigating and 
discussing them than as pronouncing them certain and 
indisputable. 

"The end and consummation of the world will 
take place, when all shall be subjected to punishments 
proportioned to their several sins ; and how long each 
one shall suffer, in order to receive his deserts, God 

i Namely, Jerome, Justinian, etc. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



71 



only knows. But we suppose that the goodness of 
God, through Christ, will certainly restore all crea- 
tures into one final state ; his very enemies being 
overcome and subdued. For thus saith the Scripture : 
The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right 
hand, until 1 make thine enemies thy footstool, (Ps. 
ex. 1.) To the same purport, but more clearly, the 
apostle Paul says that Christ must reign till he hath 
put all enemies under his feet. But if there be any 
doubt what is meant by putting enemies under his feet, 
let us hear the apostle still further, who says, for all 
things must be subjected to him. (1 Cor. xv.) What, 
then, is that subjection, with which all things must be 
subdued to Christ ? I think it to be that with which 
we ourselves desire to be subdued to him ; and with 
which also the apostles and all the saints who have 
followed Christ have been subdued to him. For the 
very expression, subjected to Christ, denotes the salva- 
tion of those who are subjected : as David says, shall 
not my soul be subjected to God? for from him is my 
salvation. (Ps. lxii. 1.) 

" Such, then, being the final result of things, that 
all enemies shall be subdued to Christ, death the last 
enemy be destroyed, and the kingdom be delivered up 
to the Father, by Christ ; let us, with this view before 
us, now turn and contemplate the beginning of things. 
Now, the beginning always resembles the end ; and as 
there will be one common end or result to all, so we 
should believe that all had one common beginning. 
In other words, that as the great variety of characters 
and different orders of beings which now exist, will, 
through the goodness of God, their subjection to Jesus 



72 THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



Christ, and the unity of the Holy Spirit, be finally 
restored to one and the same state ; so were they all 
originally created in one common condition, resembling 
that into which they are eventually to be recalled. All 
who are, at last, to bow the knee to Jesus Christ, in 
token of subjection, — that is, all who are in heaven, 
all on earth, and all under the earth (by which three 
terms is comprehended the whole intelligent creation), 
— proceeded, at first, from that one common state ; but 
as virtue was not immutably fixed in them, as in God, 
they came to indulge different passions, and to cherish 
different principles. They were therefore assigned 
to the various ranks and conditions they now hold, as 
the reward or punishment of their respective deserts," 1 
etc., etc. The same subject he introduces repeatedly, 
with various illustrations, in the course of this work. 

Our author was, at this time, about forty-five years 
old. From his childhood, the greatest expectations 
had been entertained of him ; and in his case, ma- 
ture years did not disappoint the hopes which preco- 
cious genius had inspired. Origen, after- 

A. D. 185 to 203. ° • "•_ 

wards surnamed Adamantius, was born 
in the city of Alexandria, a. d. 185 or 186. Under 
his father, Leonidas, he was, while very youug, well 
instructed in all .the rudiments of learning, and assidu- 
ously trained to the study of the sacred Scriptures. 
Of these, it was his daily task to commit a portion to 
memory ; but with his characteristic passion for specu- 
lative inquiry, he refused to be content with their 
obvious meaning, and often perplexed his father by 

1 Origen, De Principiis, lib. i., cap. 6. N. B. — The reader will find our author's 
notion of p re-existence more plainly described in this chapter beginning on page 79. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



73 



an inquisitive desire after a hidden, mysterious sense 
of the passages which struck his attention. This 
imaginary sense was then the great object of investi- 
gation among all who aspired to superior attainments 
in religious knowledge ; and therefore his son's in- 
quiries, at so early an age, were hailed by Leonidas 
with secret rapture, though he seemiugly checked his 
too manly researches, and admonished him to confine 
his thoughts to subjects more within the reach of his 
infantile powers. 

When a little more advanced in years, Origen was 
sent to the Catechetical School, where he studied di- 
vinity under Clemens Alexandrinus. Here his pur- 
suits were at length interrupted, in the seventeenth 
year of his age, by the persecution under Severus ; 
which began at Alexandria in a. d. 202, and soon 
obliged his master to flee from the city. His father 
was seized and imprisoned for his religion ; and many 
others shared the same fate. But, undismayed by the 
gathering clangers, the eager spirit of the youth con- 
templated them with the strange delight of an enthu- 
siast. He would have thrown himself into the hands 
of the persecutors, in hope of obtaining the prize of 
martyrdom, had he not been prevented by his mother, 
who hid his clothes, and thus, by the sense of shame, 
confined him to his house. Fearing that his father's 
constancy would yield to anxiety for his family's wel- 
fare, he entreated him, by letter, to persevere: "Be 
steadfast, my father," said he, "and take heed that 
you do not renounce your profession on our account." 
Animated by his son's exhortation, he remained in- 



74 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



flexible to the last, and courageously suffered mar- 
tyrdom. 

On the execution of the father, the estate was con- 
fiscated, and the family reduced at once to extreme 
poverty ; but a rich lady of Alexandria, either from 
compassion or respect, took Origen into her own 
house, and freely gave him a support. There lived 
with her, at the same time, a famous heretic, whom 
she had adopted as her son, and who held public lec- 
tures under her patronage. With him, though Origen 
was obliged by his situation to converse, yet not even 
gratitude to their common patroness could overcome 
his constant, perhaps bigoted, refusal to unite in 
prayers ; and he took every method to express his ab- 
horrence of heresy, little thinking that future ages 
would repay this detestation twofold upon his own 
head. Whether his benefactress began to withdraw 
her favor, or whether he resolved of himself to spare 
her charity, it appears that in about a year he threw 
himself upon his own exertions for a livelihood. Hav- 
ing been engaged, ever since his father's death, in the 
study of the sciences, he now (a. d. 203) opened a 
grammar school, from which he had the prospect of 
deriving a support. But his attention was immedi- 
ately called to other subjects ; some of the heathens 
applying to him for religious instruction, he gladly ac- 
ceded to their request ; the number of his scholars and 
converts increased ; and Demetrius, bishop at Alexan- 
dria, appointed him, though but eighteen years old, to 
the care either of the great Catechetical School, or per- 
haps, at first, to a more private one of the same kind. 

Placed in a station so congenial with his taste, all 



OF UNIVERSALIS^. 



75 



his talents and attainments were devoted to the dis- 
charge of its duties. In order to abstract 
his attention from other studies, as well as 
to secure himself a maintenance, he sold that part of 
his library which treated of science and literature, 
and received from the purchaser an obligation to sup- 
ply him daily with four oboli, about five pence, as an 
income for his subsistence. From this period, his life 
was one of the most rigid abstinence and laborious 
study. The day he spent partly in fasting and other 
religious exercises, and partly in the duties of his 
office ; the night he passed in the study of the Scrip- 
tures, reserving a little time for sleep, which he sel- 
dom took in bed, and generally on the bare ground. 
A sort of monkish austerity had grown to high repute 
in the church ; consequently, Origen's self-denial 
increased the fame of his sanctity, and conspired, 
with his eloquence and extensive learning, to draw 
from every quarter a great number of disciples. They 
did not dishonor their master. Of their constancy in 
the faith, he soon had an opportunity of witnessing 
a full, though painful, proof; for, in a furious 
persecution which some of the Eoman magistrates 
set on foot at Alexandria, several of his scholars 
undauntedly sealed their professions with their 
lives. He himself was often attacked with showers 
of stones, while going to the place of execution to 
exhort and encourage the martyrs ; and as no dangers 
ever deterred him from this practice, the exasperated 
heathens at length beset his house, and obliged him to 
secrete himself, in order to escape their rage. About 
this time, a. d. 206, in his twenty-first year, the ex- 



76 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



cessive rigor of his discipline led to an act which 
became an occasion of self-regret, and of much re- 
proach, in future life ; understanding our Saviour to 
recommend emasculation, 1 he made himself a eunuch, 
not only for the kingdom of heaven's sake, but also 
from prudential considerations ; his instructions being 
sought by both sexes. Demetrius, his bishop, ap- 
plauded it, at first, as an act of the greatest Christian 
heroism ; though he afterwards alleged it against 
him as an inexcusable offence. 

Such, at length, was the increase of his school, that 
its cares engrossed too much of his thoughts, leaving 
him no time for reflection and improvement. He 
therefore committed the younger pupils to his friend 
Heraclas, one of his earliest converts ; and employed 
the leisure which this arrangement afforded in vari- 
ous studies and occupations. He applied himself to 
the Hebrew, a language then but little known ; next 
he began, it is thought, that astonishing monument 
of application and labor, the Hexwpla or Octapla, a 
Polyglot of the Old Testament ; and it was, perhaps, 
not far from this period 2 that he attended the lectures 
of the ingenious and subtle Ammonius Saccas, whose 
darling study it was to harmonize all the different sys- 
tems of philosophy and religion, heathen as well as 
Christian, by combining their leading principles, and 
by rejecting from each, or turning into allegory, what- 
ever was absolutely discordant with his general design. 
Under him, Origen became master of the Platonic, 



1 Matt. xix. 12. 

2 So thinks Larduer ; other hiographers, however, refer his attendance at the 
school of Ammonius to an earlier period. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



77 



Pythagorean, Stoic, and Oriental notions ; which, to- 
gether with his previous acquirements, rendered him 
so expert in the whole circle of ancient literature and 
science, that many of the learned, even among the 
heretics and the heathens, came to make trial of his 
skill, or to be instructed by him. Of these, there was 
one who preserved his own name from oblivion, by 
the zeal with which he assisted Origen, and the suc- 
cess with which he drew forth his talents. The name 
of Ambrosius will frequently occur in this biography. 
He was a wealthy nobleman of Alexandria, who had 
followed the Valentinian and Marcionite heresies ; but 
on being convinced, by attending the school of Origen 
(a. d, 212), he joined the orthodox church, and be- 
came the great patron and benefactor of his master. 
Not far from the year 213, Origen's curiosity led him 
to visit Kome. Here, however, he tarried but a short 
time, and then returned to Alexandria. Soon after- 
wards he went into Arabia, on the request of some 
leader of the wandering tribes, who had earnestly en- 
treated him to come and instruct him in the Christian 
religion. Scarcely was he re-established in Alexan- 
dria, when the Emperor Caracalla (a. d. 216) threw 
the whole city into consternation by an indiscriminate 
massacre, in revenge for the jeers and scoffs he had 
received from some of the inhabitants ; and to escape 
the terrible confusion, Origen retired to Cesarea in 
Palestine. Here, the bishops of the province per- 
suaded him, though never ordained, to expound the 
Scriptures publicly to the people. 

This appointment, so honorable to 

f\ • 1 4. +1 C C • A.D.216to 230. 

Origen, was but the forerunner oi an in- 



78 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



veterate, and at length fatal, persecution from his own 
bishop at Alexandria. Demetrius instantly addressed a 
letter of complaint to his brethren in Palestine, assert- 
ing that it was a thing unheard of, that a layman 
should preach in the presence of bishops ; but 
Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, and Theoctistus, 
Bishop of Cesarea, answered him, by showing that the 
practice had been sanctioned in the church by several 
precedents. Demetrius, however, remained dis- 
satisfied, and sent some deacons to Origen, with an 
order for his immediate return to Alexandria. He 
came accordingly and resumed the care of his school. 
This he seems to have prosecuted, in quiet, for five or 
six years; when an event occurred, which serves to 
show, at once, the superiority of his reputation, and 
the influence it had in recommending Christianity to 
the favorable notice of the great. The Princess 
Mammsea, mother of Alexander, the reigning emperor, 
sent for Origen to visit her at Antioch, and furnished 
a military guard to escort him thither. Having given 
her a general illustration of the Christian doctrine, he 
returned, with her permission, to his charge at 
Alexandria. 

At the earnest solicitation of Ambrosius, he now 
began his Commentaries. He was furnished, by this 
devoted patron, with every convenience for the pur- 
pose : seven notaries stood ready to record as he 
dictated ; and a number of transcribers received their 
hasty notes, and wrote them out in a plain and 
elegant hand. In this manner he was engaged till 
A. d. 228 ; when he was sent into Achaia, on some 
ecclesiastical affairs, with letters of recommendation 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



79 



from Demetrius. Passing through Palestine on his 
journey, he was ordained Presbyter, by the bishops 
of that province. Demetrius warmly resented this 
procedure of foreign prelates, without his leave ; and 
wrote letters against Origen to the churches, declaring 
him disqualified for the priesthood, by the act per- 
formed in his youth, and alleging that it was unlawful 
to ordain the Principal of the Alexandrian School, 
without his knowledge and concurrence. In the midst 
of this ferment, Origen, having accomplished his busi- 
ness in Greece, returned to Alexandria, finished the 
first five books of his Commentaries on St, John, 
those on the Lamentations, on some of the Psalms, 
and on part of Genesis, and published them, a. d. 230, 
together with his work entitled Stromata, and his 
book Of Principles. 

These were, perhaps, his first publications. From 
the last-mentioned work, we have already seen that, 
in connection with Universalism, he held the doctrine 
of Pre-existence. His opinion was, that in the past 
ages of eternity, God created, at once, all the rational 
minds which have ever existed, whether of angels or 
men, gave them the same nature and the same powers, 
and placed them all in one celestial state. Accord- 
ingly, they were all, at first, exactly alike in rank, 
capacity, and character. But as they all had perfect 
freedom of will, they did not long continue in this 
state of equality ; for while some improved them- 
selves more or less, others degenerated proportionally, 
till an infinite diversity of character and condition 
began to take place among them. In consequence of 
this, the Almighty at length formed the material 



80 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



universe out of pre-existent matter, and appointed 
those spirits to different ranks and conditions in it, 
according to their respective deserts ; elevating some 
to the angelic order, consigning others to the infernal 
abodes as demons, and sending the intermediate class, 
as occasion might require, into human bodies. Origen 
supposed, also, that the sun, moon, and stars were 
animated by certain spirits who had attained to great 
moral splendor, dignity, and power, and who might, 
with justice, claim those bright and glorious spheres 
as their own appropriate bodies. 

As all these intelligent beings, whatever their char- 
acter and station, still retain their original freedom of 
will, and are therefore capable of returning from their 
former transgressions, of forfeiting their honors, or of 
rising to still higher degrees of excellence, their pres- 
ent conditions are not only the allotments of retribu- 
tive justice for the past, but are also states of discipline 
adapted to reclaim the degenerate, and to encourage 
the virtuous. To this end, indeed, are all the appoint- 
ments of providence, and all the administrations of the 
divine government, constantly directed ; and justice 
itself steadily pursues the same gracious design 1 , in 

1 Many of the Gnostics held that Justice is opposed to G-oodness, and that it is 
therefore an attribute of the stern Creator of this world, and not of the benevolent 
Deity. Against these, Origen says : " Let them consider this : if Goodness is a 
virtue, as doubtless they will confess it to be, what will they say of Justice ? They 
will not be so stupid, I think, as to deny that Justice is a virtue. If Goodness then 
is a virtue, and Justice also a virtue, there is no question but that Justice is Good- 
ness. But if they still assert that Justice is not Goodness, it remains that it is 
either evil or indifferent. Now, I suppose it would be folly to reply to any who 
should say that Justice is evil; for how can that be evil, which renders bless- 
ing to the good, as they themselves confess that Justice does ? But if they assert 
that it is indifferent [neither good nor evil], then it follows that, together with 
Justice, every other virtue, as sobriety, prudence, etc., must be considered in- 
different. And how then should we understand St. Paul, who says, If there be 



OF UNIVEKSALISM. 



81 



all its severe, but salutary, inflictions. Such are the 
views we may gather from Origen's books Of Prin- 
ciples, and his other works published at this period. 

The language in which he defines, or involves, his 
notions of the Trinity is not always such as would 
now be judged orthodox, though it was probably re- 
garded as sufficiently so in his own age. Of the fall 
of man he has no other view than it consisted in the 
descent of the celestial soul to the prison of an earthly 
body, in consequence- of its transgressions ; it is 
evident that he made no distinction between the 
natural state of Adam, and that in which all mankind 
have since been born. He holds that none can ever 
be happy, or miserable, but by the right or wrong use 
of their own free-wills ; and that even what are now 

any virtue, any praise, think on these things which ye have both learned and re- 
ceived, and heard, and seen in me f (Phil. iv. 8, 9.) Let them, therefore, learn, by 
searching the Scriptures, what are the several virtues. And when they allege 
that the God who rewards every one according to his deserts, renders evil 
to the evil, let them not conceal the principle : that as the sick must be cured by 
harsh medicines, so God administers, for the purpose of emendation, what for the 
present appears to produce pain. They do not consider what is written concern- 
ing the hope of those who perished in the deluge; of which hope, St. Peter says, 
in his first Epistle, that Christ was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the 
spirit; by which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, which some- 
time were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of 
NbaJi, while the ark was a preparing, etc. (1 Pet. iii. 18, 19, 20.) Let them also 
consider the instances of Sodom and Gomorrah : as they believe the prophecies are 
the word of that God, the Creator, who is said to have rained fire and brimstone 
upon them; what, we ask, does the prophet Ezekiel say of them? Sodom, says 
he, shall be restored to its former state. (Ezek. xvi. 55.) Now, he who afflictB 
those who deserve punishment, does he not afflict them for their good ? He says 
also to Chaldea, tJwu hast coals of fire; sit upon them; they will be a help to thee. 
(Isa. xlvii. 14, 15.) Let them also hear what is said, in the Psalme, of those who 
fell in the desert : when he had slain them, then they sought him. (Ps. lxxviii. 34.) 
It is not said, that when some were slain, the rest sought God ; but that such was 
the end of those who were slain, that, when dead, they sought him." £>e Princip., 
lib. ii., cap. 5, § 3. 

N. B. — Whenever the early fathers quote from the Old Testament, they make 
use of the Septuagint version, which, in many passages, differs considerably from 
our translation. 



82 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



called the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, are 
imparted to creatures only in proportion to their 
previous deserts. After death, the souls of the faith- 
ful may perhaps remain awhile upon earth, under a 
course of purification ; then be taken into the air, and 
at length elevated, by degrees, to the highest heaven. 
In the resurrection, mankind will come forth with 
bodies, not of gross earthly matter, but of an aerial 
substance ; and then the whole human race, both good 
and bad, will be subjected to a fiery ordeal in the 
general conflagration, with different degrees of pain, 
according to their moral purity or corruption. The 
righteous will quickly pass through this trial into the 
enjoyments of heaven ; but the wicked will then be 
condemned to the punishments of hell, which consist 
both of inflicted pain and of the remorse of conscience. 
These sufferings, though he calls them everlasting, 1 
Origen held, would be apportioned, in length and 
severity, to every one's wickedness and hardness of 
heart : for some, they would be shorter and more 
moderate ; but for others, especially for the devil, 
they would necessarily be rendered intense, and pro- 
tracted to an immense duration, in order to overcome 
% the obstinacy and corruption of the guilty sufferers. 
At last, however, the whole intelligent creation should 
be purified, and God become all in all. 2 

1 Proem., lib. De Principiis, and lib. ii., cap. 10, §§1 and 3. 

2 Huet, Du Pin, and otbers, represent Origen to have held a perpetual change 
of character and condition among all classes of rational creatures ; so that not 
only the damned will, in time, ascend to happiness, but also the blest may, at 
length, fall into sin and misery ; and joy as well as suffering come to an end. It is 
true, he holds the perpetual freedom of the will, and seems to admit, in conse- 
quence, the probability of a fall hereafter, from heaven, at least in individual 
cases. But if I do not greatly mistake, he contemplates a distant period, beyond 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



83 



But nothing is more remarkable, in these early 
publications, than the rule they set forth for the 
interpretation of Scripture. We have already seen 
that the allegorical method had long been in vogue ; 
and that it had now become almost universal. 
Strange as it may seem, Origen pursued this farther 
than even his predecessors, and reduced it to a sort of 
system, unequalled in absurdity, except by that of the 

all revolutions, when every intelligent nature will have become so thoroughly- 
taught by experience and observation, and so intimately united to God, as to be in 
no more danger of defection. See De. Princip., lib. ii., cap. 3, § 5, and lib. iii., cap. 
6, §6. 

Origen expressly discusses this question in the fifth book of his Commentaries 
on Romans, vol. vi. pp. 407 — 413, Lommatzsch's ed. In accordance with his 
whole system, he maintained an indestructible freedom of the will, and with the 
great mass of Christians, then and now, believed that angels had sinned in heaven, 
even " he who dwelt among cherubims, and was employed in the midst of resplen- 
dent gems, and was clothed with the ornament of every virtue, and for the 
splendor of his glory was called Lucifer, the son of the morning." Sin, then, 
with free, finite beings must always be hypothetically possible, since virtue is in 
its very nature mutable, and the soul, as it must ever be able to turn from vice to 
virtue, so also from virtue to vice. But as a matter of fact, Origen distinctly 
maintained that the souls of the redeemed would not sin. " We assert," said he, 
" that the power of the cross of Christ and of his death, suffered once in the end 
of the world, is sufficient for the cure and health, not only of the present and future, 
but even of past ages, and not only for our human race, but even for the celes- 
tial orders and powers; for according to the opinion of the Apostle Paul, Christ, 
by the blood of his cross, has reconciled not only the things which are in the earth 
but also the thiugs which are in heaven." To prove that, though free, the soul 
will not run into sin, he quotes the declaration of the apostle, that Love never fails. 
"For if the soul shall rise to that degree of perfection, so that it will love God 
with all its heart, and all its powers, and all its mind, and its neighbor as itself, 
what place will there be for sin ?" He also quotes the language of St. John, that 
he who dwells in love dwells in God, and " therefore," he adds, " that love which 
alone is greater than all will preserve omnem creaturam (every creature, or the 
whole creation) from falling. Then shall God be all in all." He also quotes St. 
Paul's words: ''Who shall separate us from the love of God?" etc., and con- 
cludes that if all these things were unable to alienate the soul from God, much less 
would the freedom of the will. The angels sinned before the love of God had 
been manifested in Christ, but after that love begins to be shed abroad in the 
heart by the Holy Ghost, the soul is bound by it and walks in its light; and he 
closes his discussion by some beautiful illustrations of the power of the Christian 
conviction that we are dead with Christ, and believe also that we shall live with 
him. — T. J. S. 



84 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



famous Baron Swedenborg. To the sacred writings 
in general, he attributed three distinct senses : 1, the 
literal, which in no case is of great importance, and 
sometimes entirely useless ; 2, the moral, superior in 
value to the former, teaching us to consider every 
historical account as an allegorical representation of 
certain virtues or vices in our own hearts ; as, when 
the Scripture relates that Joseph being dead, the 
children of. Israel increased in number, we learn, 1 by 
the moral sense, that if we receive the death of Christ, 
our spiritual Joseph, into our sinful members, the 
children of Israel, that is, the graces of the spirit, 
will be multiplied within us; 3, the mystical or 
spiritual sense, the most excellent of all ; by which 
the more enlightened can trace in all the Scripture 
narratives, of whatever sort, a latent history of Christ's 
church ; and by which also they can discover, in every 
account of earthly things, some representations of that 
celestial, invisible world, of which the present is but 
a faint and imperfect image. There, souls are the 
inhabitants, and angels the rulers ; and there the ideal 
regions and the order of events correspond, in some 
degree, to those on earth. Eidiculous as was this 
system of interpretation, it met the taste of his times ; 
though, even then, there were some who rejected it, 
at least, in part, and raised their feeble voice against 
its extravagance. But they themselves often ran into 
other notions nearly as chimerical. 

While Origen was engaged in preparing and pub- 

1 Homil. i. in Exod., § 4. I have taken this illustration from one of Origen's later 
works ; but in the books Of Principles, the nature and use of the moral sense are 
abundantly explained. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



85 



lishing the works now mentioned, the 
storm which his bishop had raised 
against him continued, increasing in violence. 
Wearied out, at length, with contention, he took a 
private and final leave of his native country (a. d. 
231), and retired to Palestine, where he was cordially 
received by his old friends, Alexander of Jerusalem, 
and Theoctistus of Cesarea. Immediately on his re- 
treat, Demetrius assembled all the Egyptian bishops, 
and such of the presbyters as he thought in his own 
favor, with the hope of procuring the condemnation 
of his victim. In this, however, he was disappointed : 
the council decreed only that Origen should be 
deprived of his office in the Catechetical School, and 
of the privilege of teaching at Alexandria ; but that 
he should still enjoy his character of presbyter. This 
not satisfying his wrath, Demetrius called another 
council (probably in a. d. 232), composed of such 
bishops only as he saw fit to select from his own 
province. With these he succeeded: they ordained 
that Origen should be deposed from his sacerdotal 
dignity, and excommunicated from the church. When 
this sentence was thus formally passed upon him, he 
could not, according to the ecclesiastical Constitution 
and Canons, be received in any church, nor by any 
bishop, under the Catholic jurisdiction ; nevertheless, 
the bishops of Arabia, Palestine, Phoenicia, and 
Achaia, his personal acquaintances, hazarded the 
experiment of supporting him, at the expense of non- 
conformity to the established regulations. But in the 
West, and particularly at Rome, the sentence of ex- 
communication was readily confirmed. 



86 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



That it was not for error in doctrine that Origen 
was condemned, is expressly asserted by some of the 
ancients, 1 and evident from the silence of all the rest. 
It is not incredible, indeed, that his adversary adopted 
the usual expedient in ecclesiastical persecution, and, in 
order to increase the odium, represented some opinions 
he had advanced, as worthy of reproof. But if this 
were the case, it cannot have formed a prominent 
ground in the prosecution, since there is no trace of 
it left in all antiquity. What were the principal 
charges alleged against him, we can only conjecture. 2 
The consciences of an angry prelate, and his select 
minions, could not be very scrupulous in the choice 
of matter for condemnation ; and it is thought to have 
related only to some informality in his ordination, 
and to some disregard of the customary claims 
of his bishop. Demetrius, however, did not long 
enjoy his revenge, as he died, probably, this year. 
After his decease, the rage of opposition appeared to 
subside ; but still Origen was considered, by the 
Egyptian Christians, as an excommunicated person; 
and such was their respect for the ecclesiastical 
canons, that the sentence of Demetrius was never 

1 Jerome, Apud. Ruf. Invect. ii., inter Hieronymi Opera. 

2 As for the story we find in Epiphanius (Haeres. lxiv. 2), that before Origen left 
Alexandria, he consented to hold incense over the altar in honor of an idol, rather 
than be unnaturally defiled by an Ethiopian, it is generally thought by the 
moderns to have been one of Epiphanius's fables, or perhaps an interpolation jn 
his works. Xicephorus appears to have taken the same account, with some altera- 
tion, from Epiphanius. Some later writer, in order to continue the story, has 
forged a piece entitled The Lamentation of Origen, or Origen's Repentance, in 
which he is made to bewail, in the most extravagant manner, his having sacrificed 
to idols. See Huet. Origenian, lib. L, cap. 4, §4, and Append, ad. bib. iii., §8, 
Cave's Lives of the Fathers, art. Origen, etc. Du Pin's Bibliotheca Patrum, art. 
Origen, note n; and Mosheim, De Reb. Christian, ante Constant, p. 676. The 
Lamentation of Origen may be found in Dr. Hanmer's English translation of 
Eusebius, Socrates, and Evagrius. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 



87 



revoked by his successors, Heraclas and Dionysius, 
though they had been disciples of Origen (the former, 
his assistant) , and though they both still retained the 
greatest veneration and the warmest affection for him. 

At Cesarea he was again appointed to expound the 
Scriptures to the people ; and the bishops of Pales- 
tine, themselves, often sat under his instructions, as 
though he were their master. This city, at that time 
the largest in the Holy Land, and the capital of one 
of its divisions, might be classed, perhaps, with the 
Roman cities of the third rank in Asia, inferior not 
only to Antioch, the queen of the East, but also to 
Ephesus and Smyrna. It rose on a gentle acclivity 
from the shore of the Mediterranean, about midway 
between Joppa and Ptolemais ; and its white marble 
buildings, its magnificent amphitheatre, and, higher 
than all the rest, its splendid heathen temple, met the 
view of the distant voyager as he coasted along, or 
approached the harbor. 1 Here Origen opened a 
school, somewhat on the plan of that at Alexandria, 
for the study of literature and religion ; and his fame 
soon drew, scholars both from the adjacent province 
and from remoter regions. From Cappadocia he re- 
ceived Firmilian, who afterwards returned to his na- 
tive country and became the most eminent bishop 
there. Still farther to the north, from Pontus on the 
shore of the Euxine, came Gregory Thaumaturgus 
and his brother Athenodorus. 

Meanwhile, Origen proceeded with his Commenta- 
ries on St. John's Gospel, and began those on Isaiah 

1 Josephus Antiq., book xv., chap. 9, § 6, and Reland. Palajst. Illustrat., lib. iii., 
art. Cesarea. The city wa%sixty-two miles north-west of Jerusalem. 



83 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



and Ezekiel. Thus constantly engaged either in his 
school, or in preaching, or writing, he seems to 
have passed about four years in quiet, till a. d. 235 ; 
when the barbarous Maximin, on coming to the 
throne, instituted a persecution against the more dis- 
tinguished of the Christians, out of a fearful suspicion 
that they cherished, with too grateful a regard, the 
memory of his murdered predecessor. Among oth- 
ers, Protoctetus, a presbyter of Cesarea, and the gen- 
erous Ambrosius, were thrown into prison, and tor- 
tured with various cruelties. To them Origen wrote 
and dedicated his book On Martyrdom; but concealed 
himself, the meanwhile, in a private family in the city, 
and sometime afterwards retired across the seas to 
Athens. Here he finished his Commentaries on Eze- 
kiel, and went forward with those upon Canticles. 
From this place it is thought he made a visit to his 
friend Ambrosius; who, on being released from his 
sufferings in Palestine, had gone, with his family, to 
the city of Mcomedia, on the north-east of the Pro- 
pontis. Returning at length to Cesarea, about a. d. 
240, his next journey, it seems, was to the city of the 
same name in Cappadocia, the metropolis of that 
province, whither his former scholar, Firmilian, now 
elevated to the bishopric there, had importuned him to 
come, in order to instruct his churches in the knowl- 
edge, of the Scriptures. About a. d. 243, he went 
into Arabia, on the request of a council convened 
against Beryllus of Bostra, a bishop of that country, 
who differed somewhat from the popular faith con- 
cerning the trinity. With him Origen's conversation 
effected, what the council had been unable to attain, 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 



89 



the renunciation of his supposed error ; and with such 
grace was this accomplished, that Beryllus became 
the lasting and ardent friend of his victorious oppo- 
nent. It was a little after this, perhaps the next year, 
that he wrote, at the solicitation of Ambrosius, his 
books Against Celsus, a heathen philosopher of the 
second century, who had hoped, by a labored treatise, 
to overthrow Christianity. To this learned and witty 
enemy of the Gospel, Origen's work is generally es- 
teemed a candid and thorough answer ; though some 
of the more judicious and impartial have detected in 
it a few instances of the prevailing disingenuousness 
and sophistry of the times. He was soon called 
again into Arabia, by another council of bishops, 
in order to reclaim some Christians there, who held 
that the soul dies with the body, and with it awakes 
to consciousness at the resurrection. On his arrival, 
he contended so successfully against the obnoxious 
sentiment, that its advocates changed their opinion, 
and returned to the cordial fellowship of the church. 
This was under the reign of Philip, to whom, per- 
haps, more properly belongs the distinction commonly 
allowed to Constantine, of having been, though se- 
cretly, the first Christian emperor. Be that as it may, 
Origen appears to have been honored with his corre- 
spondence, and with that of the empress. 

Notwithstanding the multiplicity of his pursuits, 
the variety of his situations, and the 

, j. , . }, , A. D. 245 to 253. 

changes ot his tortune, he seems never 

to have neglected the Hexapla or Octapla, 1 that great 



1 It was called Tetrapla, Hexapla, or Octapla, according as the copy contained 
three, six, or all of the columns. 



90 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



work, which alone would have immortalized his name. 
At what time it was completed is unknown ; proba- 
bly, however, not far from this period. In its entire 
state it consisted of the Hebrew text of the Old Tes- 
tament, placed in the first column ; the same, but 
written in Greek letters, in the second; the transla- 
tion of Aquila in the third ; that of Symachus in the 
fourth ; the Septuagint in the fifth ; the version of 
Theodotian in the sixth ; two other versions of the 
prophets in the seventh and eighth ; together with a 
translation only of the Psalms. Wherever he found 
the Septuagint to depart from the Hebrew text, he af- 
fixed different marks to denote what was omitted, or 
what was added; and, by similar means, he distin- 
guished the various readings of the Original itself, 
according to the countenance each one received from 
the several translations. This is supposed to have 
been the first attempt at a Polyglot, or critical com- 
pilation of the Scriptures in different languages. In 
the great uncial letters of ancient manuscripts, it must 
have swelled to an enormous bulk, amounting, as 
Montfaucon thinks, to at least fifty volumes of a very 
large size. Mosheim says, that "though almost en- 
tirely destroyed by the waste of time, it will, even in 
its fragments, remain an eternal monument of the in- 
credible application with which that great man labored 
to remove those obstacles which retarded the progress 
of the Gospel." 

But neither the services he had rendered the 
church, nor the veneration with which his name was 
generally regarded throughout the East, could stifle a 
strong disaffection, in many Christians of that day, 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



91 



towards some of his extravagancies. We may per- 
ceive, in his later writings, allusions to the complaints 
of such as reprehended his perpetual use of heathen 
philosophy, and of those who animadverted on his 
allegorical system of interpreting the Scriptures. And 
we occasionally discover that he felt and lamented, 
what is the common misfortune of greatness, that the 
unbounded praises lavished upon him by his personal 
admirers had awakened in others a spirit of# envy 
and abuse. An invidious hostility, once excited, 
could never be at a loss, amidst the prodigious num- 
ber of his writings, to select some wild notions, many 
unguarded expressions, which would seemingly justify 
the clamors of passion, and the cold discountenance 
of more prudent malignity ; and it is said that Origen, 
at length, judged it expedient to write a letter to Fa- 
bian, the Bishop of Rome, in vindication of his im- 
peached orthodoxy . 1 

1 Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., lib. vi., cap. 36) barely mentions that Origen wrote a let- 
ter to Fabian concerning his own orthodoxy ; but Jerome, who is not the best 
authority, says (Hieron. Epist. xli., vel. 65, ad Pammach., p. 347), that Origen 
therein lamented that he had written those things for which he had been censured, 
and that he also dkst upon Ambrosius the blame of having circulated those writ- 
ings which contained them, and which he himself had intended only for private 
use. How much of this improbable account is true cannot be determined, as the 
letter is lost. It is natural, here, to ask, Was Universalism one of those tenets 
which then gave offence? But to this interesting question no certain answer is to 
be found. Circumstances, however, would lead us to hazard an answer in the 
negative : 1. Origen continued to advocate that doctrine even in his latest publica- 
tions (see note s to § xi. of this chapter), without an intimation that it was cen- 
sured. 2. In all the succeeding controversies concerning his orthodoxy, which be- 
gan to rage in about forty years after his death, we never find that doctrine in- 
volved, till after the contention had lasted a century (see chapters vi. and vii.); 
and it is not likely that a doctrine of so much consequence, had it once been 
pointed out as subject of complaint, would have been forgotten as such, both by 
his adversaries and his apologists. 

It does, indeed, appear, from an expression in his Letter to his Alexandrian 
friends, as explained by Jerome, that a Valentinian heretic endeavored to stigma- 
tize him with holding the salvation of the devil. But we have only a part of the 



92 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



Though now above sixty years of age (a. d. 246) , 
he appears to have subjected himself to as great exer- 
tions as at any former period ; proceeding in the com- 
position of some large works, and at the same time 
delivering daily lectures to the people of Cesarea. 
These, though extemporaneous and unprepared, were 
nevertheless so highly esteemed, that, with his con- 
sent, transcribers were now employed, for the first 
time, to take them down as they were delivered, and 
then to publish them under the title of Homilies. At 
length his Commentaries on St. Matthew's Gospel, 
those on the twelve minor Prophets, and on the Epis- 
tle to the Romans, were finished in succession, having 
employed him till near the year 250. At this. date 
the terrible persecution under the Emperor Decius 
broke out; and Origen was seized at the city of 
Tyre, cast into prison, and loaded with irons. Here 
he suffered the most excruciating torments : his feet 
were kept in the stocks, distended to the utmost ex- 
tremity, for several days ; he was then threatened 

letter, and that only in the translations of Rufinus (De Adulterat. Librorum Ori- 
gen), and of Jerome (Apolog. adversus Rufln., lib. ii., pp. 413, 415) ; both of whom 
are well known to have taken considerable freedom with Origen's language. 
There is some difference in their versions of this passage ; but much more in the 
light in which they leave the subject. According to the former, Origen incidentally 
observes that his enemies accused him of asserting the salvation of the devil, 
" which," adds he, " no one can assert, unless transported or manifestly insane." 
According to Jerome, who corrects the misrepresentations of Rufinus, Origen 
barely alludes to the cavils of a certain Valentinian concerning the salvation of 
the devil; " which," continues he, "none could avow, unless insane." What is 
unaccountable in these two translations is, not their difference, but the point in 
which they agree, namely, that they both make Origen pronounce the salvation of 
the devil a tenet which none could assert, unless insane (when he himself had as- 
serted and illustrated it (De Principiis, lib. i., cap. 6, and lib. iii., cap. 6, § 5), and 
continued to do so in his latest works (torn. xiii. in Matt., and Homil. in Josh.). 
As neither Rufinus nor Jerome had this sentence particularly in view, we may 
Suspect that they have given it a false construction. 



OF UNIVEKSALISM. 



93 



with being burned alive ; and when it appeared that 
threats could not shake his constancy, he was racked 
with several kinds of torture. At length his execu- 
tioners, tired with the infliction of unavailing cruelties, 
or more probably prevented by the death of Decius 
(a. d. 251), suffered him to escape alive. After this 
he held several- conferences, and wrote many letters, 
in all which he evinced a soul worthy of the life he 
had led. He died at Tyre, about a. d. 253, in the 
sixty-sixth or sixty-seventh year of his age ; and a 
splendid tomb, erected in that city, declared to future 
times the grateful veneration which the church paid to 
his memory. 1 

Nothing but a frame like iron could so long have 
held out under his rigid privations and unremitted 
labors. Employed, for the most of his life, in the 
numerous duties of a public and daily instructor, he 
still found time to perfect himself in the whole circle 
of human knowledge, such as it then was, and, after 
all, to become one of the most voluminous 2 writers 
that ever lived. The wonder with which the an- 
cients regarded his various achievements was but 
natural ; and it was with some propriety that they 

1 For the Life of Origen, I have had recourse to the moderns, instead of at- 
tempting to collect, arrange, and illustrate the original" accounts scattered through 
Eusebius and other ancient writers. See Huetii Origeniana, inter Origenis Opera ; 
Cave's Lives of the Fathers ; Du Pin's Bibliotheca Patrum ; Lardner's Credibility 
of the Gospel History; and Delarue's Notes and Prefatory Remarks (edit. Orige- 
nis Operum Delarue), and Mosheim's Criticisms (De Rebus Christian, ante Con- 
stantinum). These authors, though they agree in everything important, differ 
somewhat in dates, and in the order of events. 

2 He published, some say, six thousand volumes, many of which, however, must, 
of course, have been very small. The remains of this astonishing mass are col- 
lected in four volumes folio, besides two additional volumes containing the frag- 
ments of the Hexapla. 



94 



THE ANCIENT HTSTOKY 



surnamed him Adamantius , to intimate the invincible 
strength of a constitution that sustained toils which 
would have worn out several ordinary lives. With 
regard to his native talents, there is a striking, though 
not singular, contrariety in his character : endued with 
a perception the very quickest, and with a memory 
the most retentive, but deficient in the more substan- 
tial gifts of cool judgment and good sense, he ap- 
pears, by turns, the brightest of geniuses and the 
wildest of visionaries. As a moral and religious man, 
however, his character is consistent, and his reputa- 
tion without a blot. Both his friends and his enemies 
agree in attributing to him the most illustrious virtue, 
ardent piety, and the purest zeal. Austere, but not 
morose, he never spared himself, and amidst all the 
abuse he suffered seldom showed the least severity 
against others. Naturally of a meek and unassuming 
temper, he endured, unmoved, the admiration of the 
world, with no apparent vanity, and without that more 
treacherous symptom of pride, the affectation of 
humility. As a writer, his style is simple, clear, and 
fluent; but careless, redundant, and often incorrect. 
To conclude his character, in the words of one of the 
most learned and discriminating of ecclesiastical his- 
torians, he was "a man of vast and uncommon abili- 
ties, and the greatest luminary of the Christian world, 
which this age exhibited to view. Had the justness 
of his judgment been equal to the immensity of his 
genius, the fervor of his piety, his indefatigable pa- 
tience, his extensive eruditiou, and his other eminent 
and superior talents, all encomiums must have fallen 
short of his merit. Yet such as he was, his virtues 



OF UNIVER-ALISM. 



95 



and his labors deserve the admiration of all ages ; 
and his name will be transmitted with honor through 
the annals of time, as long as learning and genius 
shall be esteemed among men." 1 

We have as yet quoted only one of his testimonies 
in favor of Universalism. It was, with him, a favorite 
topic ; and he introduced it, not only in his earliest, 
but also in his latest publications, in his popular 
discourses, or Homilies, as well as in his more labored 
and systematic treatises. 2 Passing over his books Of 
Principles, and many other works, in which this 
doctrine abounds, we shall transcribe only a passage 

1 Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., cent, iii., part 2, chap, ii., § 7. 

2 I do not attempt to point out all the passages in which Origen introduces this 
doctrine ; but, however imperfect, the following table of references to Delarue's 
splendid edition of his works may afford some notion of its frequent occurrence, 
and assist the inquiries of such as wish to consult the original. The dates here 
affixed to the respective works are those assigned by the learned editor: — 

De Principiis, A. D. 230, lib. i., cap. vi. and vii., § 5. Lib. ii., cap. i. 2, cap. iii. 3, 
5, 7, cap. v. 3, cap. x. 5, 6. Lib. iii., cap. v. 5, 6, 7, 8, cap. vi. 1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9. 
Lib. iv., cap. 21 and 22 and 25. — Ilomilia in Lucam. Perhaps about A. D. 230, 
Homil. xiv. — Commentariorum in Johannem, torn, i., cap. 14. About A. d. 230. 
— De Oratione. After A. D. 231, cap. v., p. 205 ; cap. xxvii., pp. 250, 251 ; cap. xxix., 
pp. 261 to 264. — Comment, in Johan. Tom. xix., cap. 3. About A. D. 234. — Tract 
xxxiv. in Johannem — Commentarii in Matthceum. About A. D. 245, torn. x. and 
xiii. and xv. — Tract xxiii. and xxx. and xxxiii. in MattJiomm. — Commentarii in 
Epist. ad Bomanos. About A. d. 246, lib. v., cap. 7, lib. viii., cap. 12. — Homilioi. 
Between A. d. 245 and 250, Homil. in Leviticum vii., cap. 2, p. 222. Homil. viii., cap. 
4, p. 230. Homil. in ISTumeros vi., cap. 4. Homil. xi., cap. 5. Homil. xxvi., cap. 4, etc. 
Homil. in i., lib. Regum ii., cap. 28, pp. 494 to 498. Homil. in lib. Jesu Nave viii., 
cap. 4, p. 416. Homil. in Jeremiam ii., cap. 2 and 3, pp. 138, 139. Homil. xvi., cap. 
5 and 6, pp. 232, 233. Homil. in Ezekielem iv. and v. and x. — Contra Celsum. 
About A. D. 248 or 249, lib. iv., cap. 10, p. 507; cap. 13, p. 509; cap. 28, p. 521. 
Lib. v. cap. 21, p. 594; cap. 15 and 16, pp. 588, 589. Lib. viii., cap. 72, pp. 795, 
796.a 

a We thought to quote in full all the passages in which Origen clearly teaches 
Universalism. But in arranging to do this, the matter so grew upon our hands, 
that we found it would occupy far too much space. The above references only 
indicate how fully Origen has treated the subject. They do not at all exhaust the 
places in which it is touched. His De Principiis, and Comm. in Epist. ad Rom. 
are particularly full and interesting. — A. St. J. C. 



96 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



or two from one of his last productions, which is still 
extant in the original Greek. 

Celsus, the heathen philosopher, had accused the 
Christians of representing God as a merciless tor- 
mentor, descending, at the end of the world, armed 
with fire. To this charge Origen replied, that "since 
the scoffing Celsus thus compels us to go into subjects 
of a profounder nature, we shall first say a few things, 
enough to give the readers a notion of our defence on 
this point, and then proceed to the rest. The sacred 
Scripture does, indeed, call our God a consuming fire 
(Deut. iv. 24), and says that rivers of fire go before 
his face (Dan. vii. 10), and that lie shall come as a 
refiner's fire and as fuller's soap, and purify the people 
(Mai. iii. 2). As, therefore, God is a consuming 
fire, what is it that is to be consumed by him ? We say 
it is wickedness, and whatever proceeds from it, such 
as is figuratively called wood, hay, and stubble. These 
are what God, in the character of fire, consumes. 
And as it is evidently the wicked works of man which 
are denoted by the terms wood, hay, and stubble, it 
is, consequently, easy to understand what is the 
nature of that fire by which they are to be consumed. 
Says the apostle, the fire shall try every man's work 
of what sort it is. If any one's work abide, which he 
hath built, he shall receive a reward. If any one's 
work be burned, he shall suffer loss. (1 Cor. iii. 
13 — 15.) What else is here meant by the work 
which is to be burned, than whatever arises from 
iniquity? Our God is, accordingly, a consuming fire, 
in the sense I have mentioned. He shall come also as 
a refiner's fire, to purify rational nature from the alloy 



OF UN I VERBALISM. 



97 



of wickedness, and from other impure matter which 
has adulterated, if I may so say, the intellectual gold 
and silver. Kivers of fire are, likewise, said to go 
forth before the face of God, for the purpose of con- 
suming whatever of evil is admixed in all the soul." 1 

Again : Celsus had treated, as very extravagant, 
the expectation of Christians that all the nations of 
the earth should at length agree in one system of 
belief and practice. On this, Origen observed, " It is 
here necessary to prove that all rational beings, not 
only may, but actually shall, unite in one law. The 
Stoics say that when the most powerful of the elements 
shall prevail, then will come the universal conflagra- 
tion, and all things be converted into fire ; but we 
assert that the Word, who is the wisdom of God, shall 
bring together all intelligent creatures, and convert 
them into his own perfection, through the instru- 
mentality of their free will and of their exertions. 
For, though among the disorders of the body there 
are, indeed, some which the medical art cannot heal, 
yet we deny that of all the vices of the soul, there is 
any which the supreme Word cannot cure. For the 
Word is more powerful than all the diseases of the 
soul ; and he applies his remedies to every one ac- 
cording to the pleasure of God. And the consumma- 
tion of all things will be the extinction of sin ; but 
whether it shall then be so abolished as never to 
revive again in the universe, does not belong to the 
present discourse to show. What relates, however, 
to the entire abolition of sin and the reformation of 
every soul may be obscurely traced in many of the 

1 Contra Celsum, lib. iv., cap. 13, p. 509. 



98 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



prophecies ; for there we discover that the name of 
God is to be invoked by all, so that all shall serve 
him with one consent ; that the reproach of contumely 
is to be taken away, and that there is to be no more 
sin, nor vain words, nor treacherous tongue. This 
may not, indeed, take place with mankind in the 
present life, but be accomplished after they shall have 
been liberated from the body." 1 

In all his works, Origen freely uses the expressions 
everlasting fire, everlasting punishment, etc., without 
any explanation, such as our modern prepossessions 
would render necessary to prevent a misunderstand- 
ing. It should also be particularly remarked, that 
among the numerous passages in which he advances 
Universalism, there is not an instance of his treating 
it in the way of controversy with the orthodox; and 
that, on the other hand, they themselves did not, so 
far as we can discover, censure or oppose it. Some- 
times he avails himself of its peculiar principles to 
vindicate Christianity from the reproaches or witti- 
cisms of the heathens, and to maintain the benevolence 
of the one God against the objections of the Gnostics. 
Sometimes, again, he states and defines it, in a formal 
and labored manner ; but in most cases he introduces 
it incidentally, either as the natural result of some 
well-known Christian principle, or as the positive 
doctrine of particular Scriptures. 2 

1 Contra Celsum, lib. viii., cap. 72, pp. 795, 796. 

2 I subjoin the principal texts that he adduced in favor of Universalism. Those 
from the Old Testament are translated according to the Septuagint version, which 
Origen, like all the ancient fathers, followed. 

Ps. xxxi. 19. How great is the multitude of thy favors, Lord, which thou hast 
laid up in secret for those who shall fear thee I — Ps. lxxviii. 30 — 35. Even while 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 



99 



In two or three places, however, he represents the 
salvation of all men as belonging, in some sense, to 
the Christian mysteries, which should not be too freely 

their meat was yet in their mouth the anger of God came up against them, and 
slew them in their fatness, and crippled the chosen ones of Israel. In all this they 
still sinned, and helieved not his wondrous works : therefore their days passed 
away in vanity, and their years with speed. But when he had slain them, then 
they sought him, and returned, and came quickly to God ; and they remembered 
that God was their helper, and that God the Most High was their redeemer. — Ps. 
ex. 1, 2. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make 
thine enemies thy footstool. Out of Zion the Lord will send thee a rod of power; 
rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. — Isa. iv. 4. For the Lord shall wash 
away the filth of the sons and the daughters of Zion, and cleanse the blood from the 
midst of them by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. — Isa. xii. 1, 
2. And in that day thou wilt say, I bless thee, O Lord : for though thou wast 
angry with me, thou hast turned away thy fury and pitied me. Behold, God is 
my Saviour; I will trust in him and not be afraid; because the Lord is my glory 
and my praise, and hath saved me. — Isa. xxiv. 21 — 23. And the Lord shall bring his 
hand upon the host of heaven, even upon the kings of this land; and they shall 
gather the congregation thereof to the prison, and shall shut them up in the strong 
hold. Their visitation shall be for many generatioris. But the brick shall melt, 
and the wall shall fall ; because the Lord shall reign from Zion and from Jerusa- 
lem, and be glorified in the presence of the elders. — Isa. xlvii. 14. Behold, they 
shall all be burned in the fire, as stubble, and they shall not deliver their soul 
from the flame. Thou hast coals of fire; sit upon them; they will be a help to thee. 
— Ezek. xvi. 53 — 55. And I will restore their apostacies, even the apostacy of 
Sodom and of her daughters ; and I will restore the apostacy of Samaria and of 
her daughters; and I will restore thine apostacy in the midst of them, that thou 
mayest bear thy punishment, and be put to shame for all thou hast done to provoke 
me to anger. And thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall be restored as at the 
beginning; and thou and thy daughters shall be restored to your former state. — 
Hosea xiv. 3, 4. We will no more say to the work of our own hands, Ye are our 
gods. He who is in thee shall have mercy on the fatherless. I will heal their 
habitations; I will love them openly ; for he hath turned away my icrath from 
himself. — Mich. vii. 8, 9. Exult not over me, O mine enemy; though I have 
fallen, I shall rise, though I should sit in darkness, the Lord will give me light. I 
will sustain the anger of the Lord, until he justify my cause, for I have sinned 
against him. He will do me justice, and bring me into light, and I shall behold 
his righteousness. — Malachi iii. 2, 3. "Who shall abide the day of his coming? or 
who shall be able to endure his appearance ? For he cometh as the fire of a re- 
finer's furnace, and as the soap of the fullers. He shall sit as*a refiner and purifier 
of silver and gold; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and melt them as gold and 
silver. Then shall they present to the Lord an offering in righteousness. — Matt, 
v. 26. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou 
hast paid the uttermost farthing. — Matt, xviii. 12, 13. [Parable of the Lost 
Sheep.] — John x. 16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them 
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and 
one shepherd. — Rom. viii. 20—23. For the creature was made subject to vanity, 



100 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



divulged. But we must observe that in this he only 
applied a rule which the orthodox of his age held with 
respect to several points in their common faith. They 
used much caution in avowing some of their tenets, 
particularly concerning Antichrist and the near 
approach of the end of the world. Even the form of 

not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope : because 
the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the 
glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation 
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now ; and not only they, but our- 
selves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan 
within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. — 
Rom. xi. 25, 26. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this 
mystery (lest ye should be wise in your own conceits), that blindness in part is 
happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in ; and so all Israel 
shall be saved. — Verse 32. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he 
might have mercy upon all. — 1 Cor. iii. 13 — 15. Every man's work shall be made 
manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the 
fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide 
which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work 
shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by 
fire. — 1 Cor. xv. 24 — 28. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up 
the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and 
all authority, and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his 
feet. Death, the last enemy, shall be destroyed. For He hath put all things 
under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that 
he is excepted which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be 
subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put 
all things under him, that God may be all in all. — Verse 54. So when tbis cor- 
ruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on im- 
mortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is 
swallowed up in victory. — Eph. i. 9, 10. Having made known unto us the 
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in 
himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together 
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even 
in him. — Eph. ii. 7. That in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding 
riches of his grace in his kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus. — Eph. iv. 13. 
Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. — 1 
Tim. iv. 10. For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in 
the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. — 
1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. By which also, he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, 
which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in 
the days of Noah, etc. — 1 John ii. 1, 2. If any man sin, we have an advocate with 1 
the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous : and he is the propitiation for our sins; 
and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



101 



their creed, and the rites of the Lord's supper, were 
concealed, as mysteries, from the uninitiated. 1 In- 
deed, within the church itself there was a series of 
doctrines appropriated to the maturer believers, and 
withheld from the less-disciplined members. This 
will help to account for the caution which Origen 
sometimes recommended in promulgating Univer- 
salism. Commenting on that text in Romans (xi. 26, 
27) where St. Paul denominates the salvation of all 
Israel, and of the Gentile world, a mystery, he takes 
particular notice of this term, and then says, " The 
word of the Gospel in the present life purifies the 
saints, whether Israelites or Gentiles, according to 
that expression of our Lord, now ye are dean tin ough 
the word I have spoken unto you. (John xv. 3.) 
But he who shall have spurned the cleansing which 
is effected by the Gospel of God will reserve him- 
self for a dreadful and penal course of purification ; 
for the fire of hell shall, by its torments, purify him 
whom neither the apostolic doctrine nor the evan- 
gelical word has cleansed ; as it is written, / will 
thoroughly purify you with fire. (Isa. i. 25.) But 
how long, or for how many ages, sinners shall be 
tormented in this course of purification which is 
effected by the pain of fire, he only knows to whom 
the Father hath committed all judgment, and who so 
loved his creatures that for them he laid aside the 
form of God, took the form of a servant, and humbled 
himself unto death, that all men might be saved and 
come to the knowledge of the truth. Nevertheless, 
we ought always to remember that the apostle would 

1 Mosheim, de Reb. Christian, ante Constant., pp. 304, 305. 



102 



THE AXCIEXT HISTORY 



have the text now under consideration regarded as a 
mystery ; so that the faithful and thoroughly instructed 
should conceal its meaning among themselves, as a 
mystery of God, nor obtrude it everywhere upon the 
imperfect and those of less capacity. For, says the 
Scripture, it is good to keep close the mystery of the 
king. (Tobit xii. 7.)" 1 Such is his suggestion. 

It may be difficult to reconcile it with the undenia- 
ble fact that he himself was in the habit of publishing 
this secret doctrine in his works , and of proclaiming it 
in his sermons, or homilies, before indiscriminate con- 
gregations. Of this species of inconsistency, how- 
ever, there are remarkable instances, not only among 
the ancients, but also among the moderns ; who some- 
times declare, in public, the secret will of God, and 
proclaim the doctrine of universal decree, which they 
contend, the meanwhile, should be rather withheld 
than divulged. 



1 Comment, in Epist. ad Rom.., lib. viii., cap. 12. The other passage of this kind 
is Contra Celsum, lib. v., cap. 15. 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



103 



CHAPTEE V. 

ORIGEN'S SCHOLARS AND COTEMPORARIES. 

With the account of Origen naturally belongs a 
view of the extent to which Universalism prevailed in 
his time, together with some notice of the more emi- 
nent of its believers among his cotemporaries. But, 
here the clear light of history forsakes us. In the 
lapse of ten or fifteen centuries every document, if 
such there was, which might have pointed out the 
state of the doctrine, has perished ; and we are left to 
the uncertainty of conjecture, guided only by cir- 
cumstantial evidence, scanty and indistinct. 

In attempting to gather some general opinion out 
of this obscurity, we must place no great reliance on 
any supposed effect which the plain testimonies of 
Scripture ought to have had upon the common belief 
of that time ; for ecclesiastical history shows that, in 
every age, Christians have taken their sentiments from 
other sources than immediately from the Bible. Nor 
must we adopt the convenient axioms of some enthu- 
siasts, that every essential Christian truth, or what we 
deem such, has found an uninterrupted succession of 
adherents, from Christ to the present time ; for when 
we assume this ground, we forsake, at once, the re- 
gion of history, for that of mere hypothesis. We 
must, in the present case, judge what is probable only 



104 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



from what is known ; and remember, meanwhile, that 
we may still err in our conclusions. 

It would certainly be unreasonable to suppose that 
the great authority of Clemens Alexandrinus, and the 
vast influence of Origen, could have failed to secure 
many believers in all their prominent tenets. Were 
we to take into our account all their disciples, patrons, 
and admiring friends, or even those of the latter alone, 
we should have the main body of the bishops and 
churches throughout all the East. Those of Arabia 
regarded him as the great and successful champion of 
the faith ; in Palestine and Phoenicia his authority in 
doctrine was almost absolute ; in Cappadocia his in- 
structions were eagerly sought and followed ; and in 
the remote province of Pontus his scholars stood first 
among the bishops ; Greece had long esteemed and 
revered him ; and even in Egypt, notwithstanding the 
quarrel of Demetrius, it is evident that the churches, 
together with the presbyters in general, and many of 
their bishops, were warmly attached to Origen. But 
to reckon all these, barely on this account, as Univer- 
salists, would certainly be extravagant. Many of his 
advocates probably regarded him only for his aston- 
ishing genius, his universal erudition, his illustrious 
virtue, or the services he had rendered the church ; 
some, perhaps, considered him merely as a persecuted 
man, and, overlooking his harmless peculiarities, felt 
it their duty to defend him against injustice. It must 
also be remarked, that, as his Universalism was ~ot 
made a matter of complaint, we can draw but little 
evidence of an agreement in that particular, from 
mere friendship and adherence to him ; but this cir- 



OF UNI VERS ALT SM . 



105 



cumstance, at the same time, leads us strongly to sus- 
pect that a doctrine, so momentous and yet unim- 
peached, prevailed among his adversaries as well as 
among his followers. 

Without attempting, then, the impracticable task 
of exploring the real extent of the doctrine at this pe- 
riod, I shall only select from the Eastern or Greek 
churches, which were the principal sphere of Origen's 
influence, some eminent individuals, whose intimacy 
with him, veneration for his opinions, and peculiar re- 
gard for his expositions of the Scripture, can hardly 
be taken into view without producing a conviction 
that they were Universalists. 

Among these, the venerable Alexander, Bishop of 
Jerusalem, holds a distinguished place. Somewhat 
older, probably, than Origen, he had already studied 
with Pantsenus, when the former became his school- 
fellow under Clemens Alexandrinus. In this situa- 
tion, the two scholars formed a friendship which was 
to endure through life. After the interruption of their 
studies by the persecution under Severus, we find Al- 
exander in, prison at Jerusalem, in a. d. 205; at 
which time his faithful sufferings were cheered, for a 
while, by a visit from his late master, Clemens, whom 
he always regarded with great respect. The exact 
period of his release is not known ; but within a few 
years he was chosen bishop of some place in Cappa- 
docia, perhaps of the metropolis. He returned, how- 
CT<!1 , ' to Jerusalem, about a. d. 212; and, on his 
arrival, was unanimously elected colleague with Nar- 
cissus, the superannuated bishop of that city. From 
this time we hear nothing of him, till Origen visited 



106 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



Palestine, about a. d. 216 ; and the affectionate def- 
erence he then paid his early friend, together with the 
faithful support he afterwards gave him, has been al- 
ready mentioned. He and Theoctistus appear to have 
taken the lead in the promotion and defence of their 
illustrious guest. Eegarding him as their own mas- 
ter, they resigned to him, in their respective churches, 
the authority of publicly expounding the Scriptures, 
and instructing the people in religion. 

To Alexander belongs the honor of having estab- 
lished, at Jerusalem, the first ecclesiastical library of 
which there is any account. Though a bishop of, 
some eminence, he seems to have written nothing, ex- 
cept commonplace letters ; a few sentences only of 
which are extant. In the general persecution under 
Decius, he was arraigned at Cesarea, and again cast 
into prison, where he soon died, a. d. 250. 1 

Of Theoctistus, we have only to add, that after 
presiding with reputation for many years in the met- 
ropolitan bishopric of Cesarea in Palestine, he died 
not far from a. d. 260. 2 It does not appear that he 
left any writings whatever. 

Perhaps we ought here to mention Heraclas, the 
successor of Demetrius in the bishopric of Alexan- 
dria. He was one of those heathens who were con- 
verted to Christianity in the year 203, by Origen's 
instructions ; and who then entered the great Cate- 
chetical School under his care. Heraclas was soon 
called to witness the sacrifice of his own brother, a 

1 Cave's Lives of the Fathers, chap. Clem. Alexand., §§ 4 and 5; and chap. 
Origen, § 22 ; and Chronol. Table, Ann. 212. Also Euseb. Hist. Eccl., lib. vi., cap. 
14. I have omitted, in this account, a vision or two. 

2 Euseb. Hist. Eccl., lib. vi., cap. 46, and lib. vii., cap. 14. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



107 



fellow-convert and disciple, among the early martyrs 
with which this seminary was honored. Pursuing his 
studies, he seems to have become the favorite of his 
master, since he was at length selected as his assist- 
ant, when Origen found the increasing duties of the 
school too numerous for his sole management. On 
the flight of the latter from Alexandria, in a. d. 231, 
Heraclas succeeded him in the presidency ; and about 
a year afterwards, on the death of Demetrius, he was 
promoted to the Alexandrian bishopric, the second for 
dignity and influence in all Christendom. Here he 
continued to govern the churches till his death, in 
A. d. 247 or 248 ; when Dionysius the Great, another 
disciple and friend of Origen, succeeded him. 

Heraclas seems to have been of a quiet and philo- 
sophic disposition. He had the reputation of exten- 
sive learning, particularly in secular literature, for 
which he, perhaps, entertained a decided partiality; 
for on his elevation to the bishopric he adopted, and 
ever afterwards wore, the philosopher's robe as his 
distinofuishinor habit. 1 He has left no writings. 

Ambrosius, the convert, patron, and familiar friend 
of Origen, can hardly be refused, by the most scepti- 
cal, a place among the believers in Universalism. It 
was at his request, and by his pecuniary aid, that 
Origen composed several of the works in which that 
doctrine is found. So zealous was he to perfect him- 
self in the whole system of his master, that, during 
some years in which they were almost constantly to- 
gether, he suffered scarcely a leisure moment to escape 
without additional instruction from him on religion. 

i Euseb. Hist. Eccl., lib. vi., cap. 3, 15, 20, 26, 31, 35. 



108 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



Their meals and their walks, their morning and their 
evening hours, were devoted to investigations of the 
Scriptures, and to the solution of difficult questions. 
We have only to add, that he was ordained deacon in 
the church of Alexandria ; he died before Origen. 
It is said that some of his Letters, extant in Jerome's 
time, but long since lost, except a short fragment, 
evinced considerable genius. 1 

Firmilian, who, after completing his studies, pre- 
sided with celebrity over the churches of Cappadocia, 
entertained so warm an affection for his former mas- 
ter, and so great a regard for his doctrine, that he 
made several journeys into Palestine in order to enjoy 
his society and attend his instructions. At length he 
prevailed on Origen to visit Cappadocia, in turn, and 
to gratify the common wish of the churches there, by 
imparting to them those treasures of religious knowl- 
edge which he himself had so much admired, and 
which they were so desirous to obtain. 

Cesarea, the metropolis of Cappadocia, stood on 
the northern declivity, at the foot of Mount Arggeus ; 
which, rising to the south above the clouds, looked 
down on the whole province, and, from its summit of 
everlasting snow, afforded indistinct views, in opposite 
directions, of the remote waters of the Euxine and 
the Mediterranean. In this great city, of perhaps four 
hundred thousand inhabitants, 2 Firmilian was chosen 
bishop, not far from a. d. 234, over the churches in 
that region. He soon became eminent and consid- 



1 Cave's Lives, etc., chap. Origen, § 10; and Historia Literaria, cap. Ambrosius. 
Also Du Pin's Bibliotheca Patrum, art. Ambrose and Trypbon. 

2 D'Anville's Ancient Geography, and Rees' Cyclopedia, art. Cesarea. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



109 



erably known throughout Christendom, by his exten- 
sive correspondence, and the active part he took in 
the general concerns of the church. On the famous 
question, which began to be agitated about a. d. 253, 
concerning the validity of baptism administered by 
heretics, he, like the churches of Asia in general, 
maintained the negative ; and in the violent conten- 
tion which raged upon that point, between the two 
western bishops, Stephen of Rome, and Cyprian of 
Carthage, he accordingly sided with the latter. Soon 
after this, at the numerous synod held in Antioch, 
A. d. 264, against the Unitarian Paul of Samosata, Fir- 
milian is thought to have presided, and to have pre- 
vented his condemnation,, being either favorable to his 
sentiment, or perhaps deceived with the evasions prac- 
tised by the accused. As the matter was not put to 
rest, he was called to a second council, held there on 
the same subject, and finally to a third ; in going to 
which he died on the way, at the city of Tarsus, a. d. 
269 or 270. He has left no writings, except a 
long Letter, on the rebaptizing of heretics, addressed 
to Cyprian. In this we discover that Firmilian en- 
tertained the common notion of that period, that bap- 
tism, administered by proper authority, conferred 
remission of sins and the spiritual new birth ; that he 
held the prevailing faith respecting the mysterious 
tricks of demons, and their ordinary interference with 
the concerns of life ; and that the good man was capa- 
ble of sarcasm, and boisterous invective, which he 
pours out profusely against Stephen of Rome. The 
subject, however, leads to no discovery of his senti- 



110 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



ments concerning endless punishment, or universal 
salvation. 1 

The last, whom I here mention, are the two broth- 
ers, Gregory Thaumaturgus 2 and Athenodorus. Born 
of a rich and noble family at Neocesarea, the capital 
of Pontus, they were brought up in a manner suita- 
ble to their birth and fortune, and instructed in hea- 
thenism, the common religion of the place. When 
Gregory was about fourteen years old their father 
died, and their mother, assuming the care of their 
education, placed them successively under different 
masters, with whom they studied Khetoric, the Latin 
language, and the Roman laws. At length their 
sister removing to Palestine, the Governor of which 
had appointed her husband one of his assessors or 
counsellors, the brothers accompanied her as far as 
Berytus in Phoenicia, where was a celebrated school 
for the study of law. This happened about the time 
of Origen's flight from Egypt, in a. d. 231 ; and the 
youths, eager to see and converse with a man of his 
renown, went to visit him at Cesarea. Here they 
were at length prevailed upon, by his entreaties, to 
apply themselves to the study of philosophy, the in- 
troduction, as he considered it, to the science of relig- 
ion ; and when they had made sufficient progress, he 
led them to the study of the Scriptures, explaining to 
them, as they proceeded, the obscure and difficult 
passages. In this way he trained them up to-asys- 

1 Firmiliani Epistola ad Cyprianum, is the Epist. lxxv. inter Cypriani Opera., 
edit. Baluzii. For his life, see Cave's Lives, etc., chap. Origen, § 16; and Hist. 
Literaria, cap. Firmilianus. Consult also Lardner's Credibility, etc., chap. Fir- 
milian. 

2 His name originally was Theodorus. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



Ill 



tematical knowledge and ardent love of Christianity, 
which they had, indeed, begun to regard with a favor- 
able eye when they left Pontus. It is worthy of re- 
mark that in the early part of their residence in Pal- 
estine, Firmilian was their fellow-student, with whom 
they then formed an acquaintance which the future 
circumstances and events of their lives must have 
cherished. 

Having remained with Origen about five years, 
they were recalled to their native country. At their 
departure, Gregory pronounced in public his Pane- 
gyric on Origen, yet extant, in which he lavishes the 
most extravagant praise on the genius and doctrine of 
his master, recounts the history of their acquaintance 
with each other, and laments, with fulsome declama- 
tion, the necessity that tore them asunder. On the 
return of the brothers to Neocesarea, it is said that 
the inhabitants entertained so high an expectation of 
Gregory's talents and acquirements, that, though 
heathens, they desired him to reside among them as a 
public instructor of philosophy and virtue. He soon 
received, also, a letter from Origen, commending his 
abilities, and urging him to prosecute his study of the 
Scriptures and of the Christian religion. But, dislik- 
ing the cares of a public life, or modestly distrusting 
his qualifications, he complied neither with the request 
of the citizens, nor with the evident wishes of his late 
master, and withdrew to some obscure retreat, in order 
to lead a solitary and contemplative life. A certain 
bishop of that country, however, pursued him with 
unwearied solicitations to devote himself to the public 



112 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



service of Christianity; and overcoming at length his 
reluctance, ordained him about a. d. 240, or 245. 

Neocesarea, an inland place of considerable size, 1 
on the river Lycus, had scarcely been visited, as yet, 
by the light of the gospel ; but when the popular 
Gregory entered on his ministry there, things assumed 
a new aspect. His success was surprising. A large 
congregation was soon gathered ; the number of his 
converts rapidly increased ; and eventually a stately 
church, or Christian temple, was erected; the first of 
the kind of which we have any distinct account in 
ecclesiastical history. In the general persecution of 
a. d. 250, he and his people fled to caves and deserts 
for safety ; but when the brief, yet violent, tempest 
subsided, he returned with such of his brethren as 
had survived. About ten years afterwards, an irrup- 
tion of the northern barbarians carried universal 
desolation and distress through Pontus and other Eo- 
man provinces ; and the heathen inhabitants, though 
sufferers in common with the Christian, seem to have 
taken advantage of the general confusion which en- 
sued, to indulge their malice. Many of the believers 
having denied their faith in order to save their lives, 
and others having committed depredations on the 
property of those who had fled, Gregory was per- 
suaded, at the request of a neighboring bishop, to 
address them a Canonical Epistle, yet extant, con- 

1 It now bears the name of Niksar, and stands in a luxuriant and delightful 
valley, through which, to the west of the city, flows the river called KelM Irmak, 
from south to north. Around, but at some distance, rise the mountains, covered 
with forests of the wildest growth, and presenting the most romantic and pic- 
turesque views. It is thirty miles north-east of Tocat; and is placed on the map 
at about eighty miles from the shore of the Black Sea. (Morier's Journey through 
Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, pp. 332, 334, Philadelphia, 1816.) 



OF TJNIVERSALISM. 



113 



sisting of authoritative rules to regulate their conduct 
and discipline in those lawless times. In A. d. 264, 
he and Athenodorus , who also was an influential bishop 
of some place in Pontus, assisted at the council of 
Antioch against Paul of Samosata. Having returned 
to Neocesarea, Gregory soon afterwards died in peace, 
with the satisfaction of leaving but few heathens in 
the city, where, at the beginning of his ministry, 
Christianity had scarcely an advocate. 1 He was 
reckoned among the most eminent bishops of the 
time ; but his reputation unfortunately increased and 
grew monstrous after his death, when miracles the 
most ridiculous and incredible were attributed to him, 
so that his name went down to posterity with the sig- 
nificant appellation of Thaumaturgus, or Wonder- 
worker. Besides his Panegyric on O rig en and his 
Canonical Epistle, we have his brief Paraphrase on 
Ecclesiastes ; 2 but none of these being of a doctrinal 
character, they throw no light on his views concerning 
the final extent of salvation, or the nature and result 
of future punishment. An ancient writer, 3 however, 
intimates, if I mistake him not, that Gregory Thau- 

1 In the account of Gregory Thaumaturgus and Athenodorus, I have generally 
followed Lardner, who allows but little credit to Gregory Nyssen's legendary tale. 
Du Pin, also, seems to have discarded it. But Cave and some others adopt the 
whole, miracles and all, with veteran credulity. 

2 Some attribute to him the short Creed, relating solely to the Trinity, which 
Gregory Nyssen says was brought to him from heaven by St. John and the Virgin 
Mary. It is probable, however, that Gregory Thaumaturgus never saw it. (See 
Lardner's Credibility, etc., chap. Gregory Thaumat.) The Brevis Expositio Fidei, 
which Cave, in his Lives of the Fathers, had ascribed to Gregory, is allowed, in 
his Hist. Literaria, to be supposititious; in which he agrees with Du Pin, Fabri- 
cius, Tillemont, and Lardner. 

3 Rufinus (Invect. in Hieronym., lib. i., projje finem, inter Hieronymi. Opp., torn, 
iv., part i., p. 406, edit. Martianay) alludes to the fact, as notorious, that Gregory 
Thaumaturgus erred with Origen ; and it is of Universalism that he is sj'waking. 



114 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



maturgus was well known to have held, with his mas- 
ter, the doctrine of Universal Kestoration. 

With him ends our select catalogue of Origen's 
cotemporary followers. It may serve, at least, to 
point out some of the circumstances, which, together 
with the general diffusion of his writings, tended to 
spread his sentiments widely through the East. What 
other particular causes operated to diffuse or cherish 
Universalism among the orthodox of this period, it is 
in vain to inquire ; but we have no reason to believe 
that it was confined exclusively to his adherents . 

As to the different bodies of heretics, it is probable 
that among the Gnostics the doctrine remained in the 
same state as formerly ; and among those of other 
kinds it may have found some believers and advo- 
cates. 1 

Turning our eyes, for a moment, from the Greek 
churches, to a hasty survey of the Western or Latin, 
it may be remarked that here the influence of Ori- 
gen, as well as' of the other Greek fathers, was par- 

1 The author of the anonymous hook called Proedestinatus, attributed hy some 
to Prismasius, an African bishop of the sixth century, but considered by others 
of uncertain date and origin, says that one " Ampullianus, a heretic of Bithynia, 
avowed the following error : that all the guilty, together with the devil and the 
demons, will be thoroughly purified in Gehenna, or hell, and come out thence wholly 
immaculate ; and when he had raised the whole church against himself, on this 
account, he corrupted the works of Origen, especially the books Of Principles, 
that he might sanction his own sentiments by their authority." (Prasdestinat., lib. 
i., Haeres. 43, inter Simondi Opera, torn, i.) When this Ampullianus lived, he 
does not inform us ; nor is his name so much as mentioned by any other ancient 
writer. But though the account of his having inserted the alleged error in Ori- 
gen's works is demonstrably untrue, and universally disregarded, there yet may 
be a question whether there was not a heretic of that name in Bithynia, some time 
during this century, who held the doctrine of Universal Restoration. At any later 
period he could not well have escaped the notice of other writers, whose works 
are extant; and, indeed, it seems difficult to account for their profound silence, in 
any way whatever, short of denying the whole story. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



115 



tial and feeble, on account of the difference of lan- 
guage, which prevented intimacy. There was, also, a 
peculiarity in the customs, manners, and general turn 
of thought, which distinguished the Christians of the 
West. We perceive no certain 1 traces of Universal- 
ism among them at this period. Indeed, the materi- 
als for determining, with precision, their sentiments 
on a number of points, are rather scanty. Though 
they had several bishops and writers of temporary re- 
nown, there was but one who still holds any distin- 
guished place in ecclesiastical history. This was the 
eloquent, the active and resolute Cyprian, who pre- 
sided in the bishopric of Carthage, from about a. d. 
249, till his martyrdom in the year 258. Formerly 
a heathen professor of rhetoric, he be- 

t . , A. D. 249 to 258. 

came, on his conversion, one ot the most 
zealous advocates of the Christian cause, sold his 
large estate to supply himself with the means of 
charity, and devoted all his time and all his powers 
to the service in which he had engaged so late in life. 

1 Novatus, or as he is often called, Novatian, an eminent presbyter of Rome, 
■who contested the bishopric of the church there with Cornelius, advanced some- 
thing like Universalism. He extolled in the highest, though in general terms, the 
unbounded goodness of God (De Regula Fidei, cap. ii., prope Jinem, edit. 
Jackson, Lond., 1728, pp. 23—25) ; and maintained that the wrath, indignation, 
and hatred of the Lord, so called, are not such passions in him as bear the same 
name in man; but that they are operations in the divine mind which are directed 
solely to our purification (De Regula Fidei, cap. iv.). In short, he asserted the 
peculiar principles of Universalism ; but whether he pursued them out to their 
necessary result does not appear. 

Novatus flourished from A. D. 250, onwards, for several years. After his contest 
for the bishopric, in which he was once elected, he was condemned by his more for- 
tunate rival, and excommunicated for obstinately refusing to admit to the commun- 
ion such members as had once fallen from their purity or steadfastness, however 
penitent they might become. A considerable party attached itself to him, which 
maintained his opinion and practice on this point till the seventh century, and 
which was therefore occasionally treated as heretical, and at other times merely as 
schismatical. 



116 THE ANCIENT HISTORY 

As a prelate, he must always stand distinguished by 
his enterprising and commanding talents ; and as a 
writer, he evinces considerable ability, though no ex- 
traordinary learning. His study, however, was not 
doctrine, but discipline, the art of governing his 
churches, and particularly the management of the 
ecclesiastical concerns in times of great perplexity 
and danger. For this difficult task he was qualified 
by a genius of ready resource, a bold decision, and a 
vehemence approaching to enthusiasm, which often 
carried him through the execution of his designs with 
surprising promptness, though at the expense of per- 
petual contention. We may lament, rather than 
wonder, that he had the faults natural to such a 
character, — ambition and a strong propensity to 
domineer ; and that his conduct appears sometimes 
dictated by self-will and passion. While he sternly 
opposed the arrogance of the Eoman bishop, he him- 
self cherished extravagant notions of episcopal au- 
thority, and unwarily promoted that ecclesiastical tyr- 
anny, which was, at length, to enslave the Christian 
world. But a worse fault than all these, at least in 
moral principle, aside from its general consequences, 
was his knavish assertion of visions and immediate 
revelations from God, as his authority and justifica- 
tion, whenever he encroached on the rights of others, 
or resorted to unpopular measures. 

As he seems to have had little acquaintance with 
the Greek fathers, except Firmilian, and perhaps none 
with Origen, his views of the future state may be re- 
garded as, in some degree, a specimen of those that 
prevailed in the West. He held a temporary and 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



117 



mild purgatory for the less deserving saints ; 1 but 
for impenitent unbelievers an endless punishment. 2 
And it is too manifest that he indulged, at times, the 
spirit of a doctrine so congenial with the hot African 
temper: "Oh, what a glorious day," says he, "will 
come, when the Lord shall begin to recount his peo- 
ple, and to adjudge their rewards, to send the guilty 
into hell, to condemn our persecutors to the perpetual 
fire of penal flames, and to bestow on us the reward 
of faith and devotedness to him ! What glory, what 
joy, to be admitted to see God, to be honored, to 
partake of the joy of eternal light and salvation with 
Christ the Lord your God ; to salute Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, and all the patriarchs and prophets, apos- 
tles and martyrs, to rejoice with the righteous, the 
friends of God, in the pleasures of immortality ! 
When that revelation shall come, when the beauty of 
God shall shine upon us, we shall be as happy as the 
deserters and rebellious will be miserable in inextin- 
guishable fire." 3 

1 Cypriani Epist. ad Antonianum, Hi., p. 72, edit. Baluzii, Paris, 1726. 

2 Cypriani, lib. contra Demetrian, p. 224. And Epist. ad Clerum, p. 13, and 
passim. 

3 Cypriani Epist. ad Thibaritanos, lvi. fine, pp. 93,94. Milner, tbe orthodox his- 
torian, whose translation I have here adopted, says seriously, on quoting this 
passage, that " The palm of heavenly-mindedness belonged to these persecuted 
saints ; and I wish, with all our theological improvements, we may obtain a 
measure of this zeal, amidst the various good things of this life which, as Chris- 
tians, we at present enjoy." (Church Hist., cent, iii., chap. 12.) A general col- 
lection of these heavenly-minded exultations over the anticipated torments of the 
damned would have satisfied our visionary that latter ages can boast genuine in- 
stances of Tertullian's and Cyprian's zeal. Had he considered, too, that there 
was some earthly feeliug of revenge to inspire the joy of the ancients in the dam- 
nation of their persecutors, he must have adjudged the palm to the more disinter- 
ested moderns ; who, without the aid of provocation, indulge a much more diffi- 
cult satisfaction in expecting the agonies, not of their oppressors, but of their sup- 
porters, their kindest benefactors, and of their own families. 



118 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



Cyprian frequently imitates Tertullian, and some- 
times borrows from him ; and, it is said, he was so 
partial to that stern and gloomy enthusiast, that he 
daily read his works, habitually calling out, as he sat 
down, Give me my master. His confident expecta- 
tion of the immediate end of the world, and near ap- 
proach of the general judgment, conspired, with his 
naturally warm temper, to cherish a high degree of 
devotional fervor ; and of all the early fathers there 
was none whose general form of expression approached 
so near that of the more enthusiastic or fanatical of 
the modern orthodox. Yet his opinions are by no 
means reducible to any creed approved at present. 
He was a trinitarian, but ignorant of predestination 
and irresistible grace ; he held that remission of sins, 
and spiritual regeneration were imparted by the minis- 
ter to the candidate in the rite of water baptism ; that 
true converts might afterwards utterly fall from grace ; 
that good works, particularly prayers, tears, fasting 
and penance, make satisfaction to God for our sins ; 
and that matrimony is but a sort of tolerated prostitu- 
tion. 

In these particulars, however, he had the agree- 
ment of a large proportion of his cotemporaries 
throughout the East as well as the West. Christianity 
had already assumed many of the peculiar 

A. D. 250 to 270. . J . r _ . 

features it now wears m the Komisn re- 
ligion. Salvation, it was represented, could be secured 
only within the pale of the orthodox church ; and all 
the heretics, the excommunicated, and the dissenters 
were exposed, equally with the heathens, to the tor- 
ments of hell. These separate sects, in their turn, 



OF UNIVEESALISM. 



119 



however, usurped, at times, the same terrible pre- 
rogative, and retorted on the catholics their own 
favorite admonitions. At the head of the true church, 
the clerical body, and particularly that of the bishops, 
possessed, when united, an influence uncontrollable, 
and powerful even when divided by their frequent 
discords. Some of the prelates began to affect the 
splendor and magnificence of secular nobility, though 
the sword of persecution hung over their heads, and 
often fell upon them in ruthless extermination. The 
ecclesiastical ceremonies and ordinances, to which 
extravagant spiritual efficacy was generally attributed, 
were losing their pristine simplicity in pomp and 
tedious parade. Nor was the morality of the gospel 
less perverted ; though downright monachism had not 
been introduced into the church, yet acts of mortifica- 
tion and penance were regarded as superior to 
ordinary virtue, and a life of rigid abstinence as the 
favorite institution of heaven. But, as might be 
expected, the manners of the time approached, at 
once, the two extremes of austerity and licentious- 
ness ; some who professed the abstinence of celibacy 
even indulged, to the great scandal of the better sort, 
in the possession of concubines from among those who 
had vowed perpetual chastity. 

Amidst this scene of growing corruption, a jealous 
zeal was cherished against all supposed error ; and 
the church exhibited the striking, though not singular, 
spectacle, of rage for soundness of faith, in propor- 
tion to the common degeneracy. While the de- 
structive persecutions of the heathens, urged at this 
time with unprecedented violence, were drenching the 



120 



THE ANCIENT HISTOKY 



earth with Christian blood, the believers, both hi the 
East and the West, seemed to devote the intervals of 
repose to a mad search for non-conformity in doctrine 
and discipline, which they hunted into every corner, 
and condemned with little discrimination. In the 
West, Novatus and his followers were excommuni- 
cated for their factious conduct, and for their obsti- 
nate exclusion of the lapsed ; and Cyprian and the 
Bishop of Rome were engaged in a quarrel about 
rebaptizing heretics. In the East, Noetus and Sabel- 
lius on the one hand, and Paul of Samosata on the 
other, were arraigned and condemned for opposite 
departures from the indefinable and wavering standard 
of Trinitarianism. Between the East and the West 
a controversy was kept up, concerning the proper 
days for fasting, and the time for the celebration 
of the Paschal Feast. In a word, so universal was 
the passion for censure that scarcely an individual 
of eminence escaped reproach from one quarter or 
another. This circumstance will serve to introduce 
us to the subject of the next chapter ; which, return- 
ing from our excursion among the cotemporaries of 
Origen, takes up the history of his doctrine from the 
time of his death. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 



121 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V. 



But in order to avoid an unseasonable interrup- 
tion in that narrative, we must defer the history of 
Origen's doctrine till we shall have brought into 
notice a new kind of Gnostic Christians. The sect 
of Manicheans began to appear, in the East, about this 
time ; and though small at first, it became, eventually, 
the most famous of all the parties of oriental heretics 
that ever arose. By gradually drawing into itself 
the older bodies of Gnostics, it swelled, at length, 
to a formidable magnitude : the number of its con- 
verts, and the talents of some of its members, gave 
it an alarming respectability ; and, so widely were 
its sentiments, under various modifications, diffused 
throughout Christendom, that its influence disturbed 
the church for many succeeding centuries, and reached 
even down' to the remote era of the Reformation. 

The author of this heresy was one Mani, a Persian 
philosopher, who appears to have combined a daring 
imagination and a most fertile genius with the austerest 
life and manners. Though educated in the schools 
of the Magi, and thoroughly instructed in the religion 
and studies of his country, he abandoned the ancient 
established faith of Zoroaster, and embraced Chris- 
tianity. Like many other converted philosophers, he 
attempted an accommodation between the gospel and 



122 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



his former theology. His history is deeply involved 
in contradiction, and mixed with fables ; but if we 
may adopt the most probable account, he was, on his 
conversion, ordained presbyter in the 
city of Ahwaz, about seventy miles 
north of the mouth of the Euphrates. As his general 
system of doctrine was too manifestly inconsistent 
with the tenor of the Scriptures, as well as repugnant 
to the faith of the few Christians already in his 
country, he announced himself an apostle of Jesus 
Christ, inspired by heaven to complete the imperfect 
revelation of his Master, by declaring the remaining 
truths which he had not divulged, and by fulfilling 
his ancient promise of a Comforter. But whether 
this was the assumption of sincere fanaticism, or the 
impious pretence of designing imposture, cannot be 
absolutely determined. 

Eemoving, afterwards, to the capital cities of 
Ctesiphon and Ecbatana, he converted to his religion 
the Persian king, the renowned Sapor, and obtained, 
perhaps, the place of tutor to the young prince, Hor- 
mizdas. Emboldened by the royal patronage, and 
growing zealous with the increasing number of his 
followers, he prosecuted a public attack on the old 
religion of the kingdom, in order to substitute his own. 
The ancient and numerous priesthood of Zoroaster 
was alarmed at this daring innovation within the very 
court ; the Magi, crowding around the monarch, soon 
succeeded in alienating him from the apostate, and 
in rousing him to avenge the violated faith of his 
people. Mani perceived the change ; and with the 
more faithful of his disciples fled from the impending 



OF UNIVEKSALISM. 



123 



blow, into Mesopotamia. But on the death of Sapor, 
in a. d. 273, he returned to the Persian court, under 
the favor of the new king, his former pupil, and 
took up his residence in a strong tower, built for his 
security against his numerous and enraged enemies. 
Meanwhile, his disciples taught his doctrine, with 
success, in various parts of the country, and, perhaps, 
carried it eastward into India. The flattering pros- 
pect of safety and patronage, however, was suddenly 
blasted. The faithful Hormizdas died in the second 
year of his reign ; and his son, Varanes, on ascending 
the throne, soon yielded to the entreaties or warnings 
of the Magi. Having, by a specious pretence, enticed 
the destined victim from his stronghold, he seized 
and put him to death, about a. d. 277. Thus fell 
Maui, probably in middle life ; but the blood of the 
martyr only quickened the growth of his cause. 1 

Like some other Gnostics, the Manicheans held 
two Original, Self-existent Principles, the primary 
causes of all things. From the depths of past eternity, 
the universe existed in two separate and adverse 
regions : the pure and happy world of Light, on the 
one hand ; and on the other, the world of Darkness, 
where all was corruption, turbulence, and misery. 
Over the realm of Light, which was much the larger 
of the two, reigned the true God, self-existent, all- 
wise, omnipotent, completely blessed, and therefore 
perfectly good. Innumerable angels, emanating from 
him, filled his tranquil dominion, and partook of his 

1 Hosheim (De Rebus Christian., etc., pp. 737 — 470) has manifested his usual good 
sense in gathering from the confused stories of antiquity a probable narrative of 
Mani's Life. 



124 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



uninterrupted enjoyment. In the deep centre of the 
opposite world of primeval darkness was the abode 
of Hyle, or Satan, the loathsome prince of evil, 
without beginning, but stupid and feeble, though 
unceasingly engaged in malicious craft; and the 
countless demons he had produced swarmed through 
his hideous and boisterous realm, waging mutual war- 
fare, and profoundly ignorant, like their king, of the 
existence of the world of light. 

In the eternal lapse of ages, however, an accident 
at length occurred, by which a partial mixture took, 
place between the two original substances, hitherto 
distinct. In one of the intestine quarrels which 
continually raged in the kingdom of Hyle, a 
vanquished party of demons fled to the very confines 
of that world, and from its mountainous borders caught 
their first view of the neighboring realm of light. 
Struck with' admiration at its splendor and beauty, 
they paused ; their pursuers arrived ; and all, forget- 
ting their mutual hostility, consulted how to gain 
possession of the glorious world before them. An 
expedition was immediately undertaken ; but the all- 
seeing Deity, beholding their approach, despatched a 
body of celestial powers under the command of an 
appointed leader. In the conflict that ensued, the 
forces of darkness were at first partially victorious ; 
and, though eventually repulsed, they succeeded in 
carrying into captivity a sufficient quantity of light 
and divine intelligence, to give them new capacities, 
and to produce a manifest change in their world. 
Fearing, however, that the Deity would liberate and 
withdraw that portion of light now in their kingdom, 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



125 



they contrived to retain it. For this purpose they 
made, out of evil matter, a human body, like that 
of the late leader of the celestial forces, whose form 
they remembered, gave this body a soul merely 
animal, like their own, and then drew into it the 
captive substance of light, which became a rational 
soul allied to heaven. Thus completely constituted, 
the creature was called Adam, the first of the human 
race. Afterwards, Eve was created in a similar man- 
ner, and with the same diversity of souls ; and it is 
from this diversity that arises the perpetual conflict 
between the sensual and heavenly natures of man. 

The- Deity, however, did not relinquish his design 
of reclaiming the celestial substance from the world of 
darkness. In order to provide a suitable dwelling- 
place for man, that his soul might be brought to spurn 
the soft enticements of the body, and return to its 
native mansion, he created our world, midway be- 
tween the primeval spheres of light and darkness, out 
of matter furnished from both of these regions. The 
sun he made of pure fire, and the moon, of uncon- 
taminated water ; the stars and the atmosphere, of a 
substance somewhat tinctured with evil ; and our 
earth, of a matter almost wholly depraved. Here 
was the appointed habitation of Adam, who, possess- 
ing a large share of celestial nature, persevered awhile 
in rectitude. But, the influence of his corrupt consti- 
tution increasing, he yielded, at length, to the blan- 
dishments of Eve, and so transgressed the divine law. 
The superior, rational souls of the first pair were 
instantly overshadowed and obscured with darkness, 
and their affections enslaved by the body ; their evil 



126 



THE ANCIENT HISTOEY 



propensities gained entire ascendency, and all their 
posterity, born in the same fallen condition, are free, 
by nature, to do only evil ; or, rather, have lost the 
knowledge how to employ their will effectually to 
what is good. 1 

In order to promote the comfort of man while on 
earth, but chiefly to aid the work of his restoration, 
the Deity, after the creation of this world, produced 
from his own being two peculiar existences, called 
Christ and the Holy Ghost, who, with himself, con- 
stitute a trinity. Christ, the brightness of eternal 
light, holds his throne in the resplendent orb of the 
sun, and extends his influence to the moon ; the Holy 
Ghost resides in our atmosphere, mollifying its asper- 
ity, cherishing the universal principle of vivification, 
and operating on the minds of men. 

When, for many ages, God had attempted, with 

1 After a long discussion of their notions concerning free-will, Beausobre comes 
to the following conclusions : " 1. The Manicheans allowed the soul to he free in 
its origin, and during its state of innocence. For it had power to resist evil, and 
to overcome it. 2. After its fall it had not absolutely lost that power, but it had lost 
the use, because it was ignorant of its nature, and of its origin, and of its true 
interests ; and because concupiscence, which had its seat in the flesh, carries it 
away by an invincible force to do, or allow, what it condemns. 3. The gospel of 
Jesus Christ delivers the soul from that servitude, and gives it sufficient power to 
subdue sin and to obey the law of God, provided it makes use of the helps therein 
afforded." Afterwards he adds : " Finally, I allow that the ancient fathers in 
general say that the Manicheans denied free-will. The reason is, that the fathers 
believed and maintained, against the Marcionites and Manicheans, that whatever 
be the state man is in, he has the command over his own actions, and has equally 
power to do good and evil. Augustine himself reasoned upon this principle, as 
well as other catholics, his predecessors, so long as he had to do with the 
Manicheans. But when he came to dispute with the Pelagians he changed his 
system. Then he denied that kind of freedom which he had before defended, and, 
so far as I am able to judge, his sentiment no longer differed from that of the 
Manicheans, concerning the servitude of the will. He, however, ascribed that 
servitude to the corruption which original sin brought into our nature; whereas 
they attributed it to an evil quality eternally inherent in matter." Hist, de 
Manichee, torn, ii., pp. 447, 448. These conclusions are adopted by Lardner, 
Credibility of the Gospel Hist., part ii., chap, lxiii., sect. iv. 13. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



127 



little success, to reclaim mankind through the minis- 
try of angels and inspired saints, he at length sent 
Christ, from his abode in the sun, to visit our world, 
not as a vicarious sufferer, but as an infallible Teacher. 
Assuming only the visionary appearance of a human 
body, the Saviour entered on his mission, instructing 
our fallen race how to forsake the service of the prince 
of darkness, to embrace that of the true God, and to 
subject the body to the government of the soul by a 
life of rigid virtue and extreme austerity. He only 
introduced, without perfecting, the system of Christi- 
anity, so that his first apostles knew but in part, and 
prophesied but in part ; but, near the close of his 
ministry, and just before his seeming apprehension 
and suffering, he promised his disciples to send a 
Comforter, who should lead them into all truth. Ac- 
cordingly, in due time, Mani the Comforter appeared ; 
and not only completed his Master's revelation, but 
also restored that doctrine which Christ had already 
taught, to its original simplicity, by exposing the many 
corruptions introduced by his followers. 

Those souls, who here obey the instructions of 
Christ, ascend, on the death of the vile body, to their 
native sphere ; but they who neglect are then sent 
into other bodies of men, brutes, or plants, to repeat 
their mortal course of discipline, until they are fitted 
for heaven. Such, however, as fight against the truth 
and persecute its adherents are first driven into the 
dominions of the prince of darkness, to be tormented 
awhile in flame, before they transmigrate again upon 
earth. 

At length, in the fulness of times, when all souls, 



128 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



or nearly all, shall have been reclaimed, and the cap- 
tive particles of light won back to the kingdom of 
the Deity, the whole of this world shall be destroyed 
by fire. Some of the Manicheans, perhaps, held the 
restoration of all souls ; 1 but none of them, the salva- 
tion of Hyle and his demons. These were independent 
powers, over whom, so long as they remained in their 
own sphere, the true God claimed no jurisdiction. 
After the end of our world, they are to be forever 
restricted to their original empire of darkness, unblest 
with the least mixture of the good substance ; and if 
any human souls shall be found utterly irreclaimable, 
they will be stationed, as a guard, on the frontiers of 
that realm, to keep the evil hosts within their rightful 
dominions. 

Like other Gnostics, the Manicheans denied the 
resurrection of the body. We have only to add that 
they rejected the Old Testament, pretended that many 
parts of the New, especially of the four Gospels, had 
been interpolated, either by ignorant or designing 
men ; and that they received the writings of Mani as 
of canonical authority. 2 

To us their scheme of doctrine appears almost too 
monstrous for conception ; but to those brought up in 
the Oriental philosophy it was an ingenious system, 
the fundamental principles of which accorded with all 
their prejudices and habits of thinking. Nor was it 

1 Beausobre, Hist, de Manichee, torn, ii., pp. 569—575. And Lardner's Credi- 
bility, etc., cbap. Mani and his Followers, sect. iv. 18. 

2 The sources whence I have drawn this short account of Manicheism are 
Moshemii De Rebus Christianorum, etc., pp. 728— 903; Beausobre's large work, 
Histoire de Manichee et du Manicheisme ; and Lardner's Credibility of the Gos- 
pel Hist., part ii., chap, lxiii. Of Beausobre, however, I have made but little 
use, except what may be derived from Lardner's remarks, extracts, and references. 



OF UNIVERS ALTSM . 



129 



so utterly shocking to the more simple-minded Greeks ; 
and the advantages it was supposed to offer, in ac- 
counting for the introduction of evil without impli- 
cating the purity and goodness of God, counterbal- 
anced weighty objections, in the opinion of many. 
When it had spread in Persia and other Oriental 
countries awhile, it began to appear among the Chris- 
tians in the eastern part of the Roman empire, as 
early, probably, as a. d. 280 ; but here its progress 
was, at first, undoubtedly slow, as the orthodox 
fathers do not seem to have taken any notice of it till 
thirty or forty years afterwards. 



130 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



CHAPTER VI. 

FROM A. D. 254 TO A. D. 390. 

Throughout the long period of nearly a century 
and a half, to be surveyed in this chapter, there is not 
an intimation found that Origen's Universalism gave 
any offence in the church, notwithstanding his writ- 
ings, the meanwhile, underwent the severest scrutiny, 
and were frequently attacked on other points. In or- 
der to give a full view of the state of that doctrine in 
this age, we must attempt a narration intricate and 
often digressive, stating not only the opinions of all 
the principal fathers concerning future punishment, but 
likewise all the complaints and controversies that arose 
on Origen's sentiments. 1 As we proceed we shall dis- 
cover, what is a very important fact, that even the 
few who treated his name with indignity, and bitterly 
censured various parts of his doctrine, uniformly 

1 Huetii Origeniana (inter Origenis Opera), particularly lib. ii., cap. 4, directs 
to nearly all the materials for a history of Origen's doctrine. By his doctrine, 
we mean, of course, not his Universalism in particular, hut his general re- 
ligious system, or rather the whole body of his peculiar tenets. Whoever 
has perused Huet's work, will scarcely be repaid for reading the smaller 
and less critical treatise, " Histoire de l'Origenisme, par le P. Louis Doucin," 
published at Paris, 1700, in one volume, small 12mo, of 388 narrow pages ; but 
even this contains much more information than Bishop Rust's Letter of Reso- 
lution concerning Origen, and the Chief of his Opinions, which may be found in 
the first volume of The Phenix, a miscellaneous work begun at London in 1707. 
I have seen the following titles, but not the works: " Joh. Hen. Horbii Historia 
Origeniana, sive de ultima origine et progressu Hsereseos Origenis Adamantii." 
Franc, 1670; and "Berrow's Illustration and Defence of the Opinions of Origen," 
4to. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 131 

passed in silence over the prominent tenet of Uni- 
versal Salvation. 

It was but a few years after his death that some of 
his views appear to have been, for the first time, pub- 
licly impeached ; though, in this instance, without 
mentioning his name. Origen had combated, even 
in his earliest publications, the prevailing notion of 
Christ's personal reign on earth for a thousand years ; 
and his successive attacks, which he continued to 
urge against this point with more than his wonted 
spirit, had eventually brought it into disrepute, to the 
great dissatisfaction of the few who still adhered to 
it. Towards the year 260, as is sup- 
posed, Nepos, bishop of some place in 
Egypt, published in its defence, a Confutation of the 
Allegorists : a title which aimed, undoubtedly, against 
Origen and his followers. This book, now lost, was 
well received in some parts of Egypt, particularly in 
the district of Arsinoe, south of the lake Moeris ; 
where the doctrine of the Millennium began to re- 
vive, and in the course of a few years involved 
several churches in schism. But Dionysius the 
Great, formerly a scholar of Origen, and now Bishop 
of Alexandria, happening in the infected district 
about a. d. 262, succeeded in bringing over all its 
advocates to his own opinions. 1 

It will be readily believed that so obscure and mo- 
mentary a disturbance could not affect the renown of 
Origen. Accordingly we find that, twenty or thirty 



1 Cave's Lives of the Fathers, chap. Dionysius, § 15. And Mosheim, De 
Rehus Christian., etc., pp. 720—728. 



132 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



years afterwards, to call an author by his 
name was generally esteemed a peculiar 
honor ; and it appears that he was imitated by some 
Egyptian writers, particularly by the learned Pierius, 
a presbyter of Alexandria, and by Theognostus, pres- 
ident of the Catechetical School in that city, — the 
works of both of whom have perished. 1 But though 
his memory was held in general veneration, it seems, 
nevertheless, that the division, originally occasioned 
by Demetrius, still continued, in some degree, among 
the Egyptian churches. 2 

And in Asia, a public attack, more direct and 
hostile than that of Nepos, was, about 

• A. D. 290—300. 1 ' ' 

this time, made upon several points of 
his doctrine. Methodius, Bishop at first of Olympus 
in Lycia, and then of Tyre, became, from some cause 
unknown, bitterly prejudiced against his memory, 
and sought every means to render it odious. He 
published, professedly against him, a treatise On the 
Resurrection, another On the Pythoness-, or Witch of 
Endor, and a third on Created Things; in all which, 
as well as in some other pieces, he inveighed against 
his opinions, and sometimes treated his name with 
angry abuse. In the first, he directed his attacks 
against such of Origen's notions as may be comprised 
under the following heads, namely, 1. That mankind 
will rise from the dead with aerial, instead of fleshly, 
bodies ; 2. That in the ages of eternity the saints will 
become angels ; 3. That human souls have existed and 
sinned in a former state of being ; 4. That Adam and 



1 See the accounts of Pierius and Theognostus, in Du Pin, Lardner, etc. 

2 Petrus Alexandrinus, apud Justiniani Epist. ad Menam, quoted by Du Pin. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



133 



Eve were, before their transgression, incorporeal 
spirits; and 5. That the garden of Eden, so called, 
was an abode in heaven, belonging to the pre-existent 
state. The second work, now lost, is said to have 
been a stricture upon some of Origen's notions con- 
cerning the Witch of Endor, and the apparition of 
Samuel ; and the third, of which only a fragment 
remains, was a refutation of an opinion, attributed, 
perhaps falsely, to him, that the world had no begin- 
ning, as well as of another, which in some sense he 
doubtless advanced, that the world existed long before 
the six days of creation mentioned in Genesis. With 
these seven or eight particulars, there are some points 
more trivial which Methodius selected as obnoxious ; 
but in all his search for errors, Universalism escaped 
without a censure. 1 After these attacks, it seems, he 
grew more favorably disposed towards the object of 
his late enmity ; and at length joined in the general 
admiration of his talents and virtues. 2 He was a 
writer of no great celebrity. 

While this was transacting in the East, Origen's 
writings appear to have found a professed admirer in 
the West ; Victorinus, who was probably a Greek by 
birth and education, but now Bishop of Petabium on 

1 Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat., art. Methodius, and Lardner's Credibility, etc., chap. 
Methodius. And Epiphanii Panarium., Haeres. lxiv., where most of Metho- 
dius on the Resurrection is preserved. Also Photii Bibliotheca, Cod. 234, 235. 
Some have said that Methodius's treatise on Free-will was against Origen ; but it 
was against the Valentinians. 

Lardncr thinks that Methodius was made bishop about A. D. 290, and martyred 
in the year 311. or 312. It is suspected that his malicious treatment of Origen 
was the reason of Eusebius-s remarkable omission of his name in his Ecclesiasti- 
cal History, 

2 Huet. Origenian, lib. ii.,cap. 4, sect, i., § 2, inter Origenis Opera, edit. Delarue; 
cum not. in loco. 



134 



THE ANCIENT HISTOEY 



the Danube, in Western Germany, is said to have 
imitated him in his Commentaries, though he disa- 
greed with him in some of his views, particularly on 
the Millennium. 1 

In the numerous and influential churches of Alex- 
andria, we discover that the troubles which arose on 
his expulsion, seventy or eighty years before, had not 
yet subsided. Among his adversaries now, was 
Peter, the bishop ; the first, probably, of that class, 
who had presided there since the time of Demetrius. 
About this time, or a little after, Peter publicly op- 
posed the notion of pre-existence, though incidentally 
perhaps, and without ascribing it to Origen. But he 
certainly betrayed his prejudice by unjustly stigma- 
tizing him as a schismatic, merely for having diso- 
beyed his passionate and domineering bishop. 2 
There is reason to suspect that the dissensions at 
Alexandria never ceased till they at length pro- 
duced, as we shall hereafter see, two avowed parties, 
both in the orthodox churches there and in the mon- 
asteries of the Egyptian deserts. 

As we are now arrived, however, at the age of two 
eminent fathers of the Western church, who explicitly 
stated their opinions of future torments, we shall 
here avail ourselves of their representations. Ar- 
nobius of Sicca, about seventy or eighty miles south- 
west of Carthage in Africa, wrote his large work, 
Against the Heathens, probably about a. d. 305 ; in 

1 Eueronyrai Epist. xxxvi. ad Vigilant., p. 276, edit. Martianay. And Cave, 
Hist. Literaria, art. Victorinus Petavionensis. 

2 Petrus Alexandrinus, apud Justiniani Epist. ad Menam, quoted by Du Pin, 
Biblioth. Pat., art. Peter of Alexandria I. Vet Eusebius mentions Peter wHh 
praise. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 



135 



which he asserted that the wicked will, hereafter, " be 
thrown into torrents of fire, amidst dark caverns and 
whirlpools, where they shall at length be annihilated 
and vanish in perpetual extinction," while the righteous, 
on the other hand, shall reign in life eternal ; "for," 
says he, "souls are of such a middle nature that 
they can be exterminated when they have not the 
knowledge of the God of life, and can also be pre- 
served from destruction by taking heed to his threat- 
enings and his mercies." 1 So thought Arnobius. 
But his own scholar, the celebrated Lactantius, who, 
after going to Asia Minor, wrote his Institutes, 
perhaps about a. d. 306, 2 asserted the endless misery, 
instead of the annihilation, of unbelievers. Having 
mentioned certain events to precede the end of the 
world, he says, "After these things the secret place 
of the dead shall be laid open, and they shall rise. 
And on them the great Judgment shall sit, conducted 
by that King and God, to whom the supreme Father 
shall give full power both to judge and to reign. . . . 
Nevertheless, not the whole universe, but only such 
as have professed the divine religion, shall then 
be judged. For since those who never confessed 
God cannot possibly be absolved, they have been 
already judged and condemned ; as the holy Scrip- 
tures testify, that the impious are not to rise in the 

1 Arnobius Adversus G-entes, lib. ii., pp. 52, 53, edit. Lugduni Bat., 1651. It has 
been said that this work was written soon after his conversion, while he was only 
a Catechumen ; but Lardner shows, satisfactorily, I think, from the book itself, 
that the author must have been in full communion. See Lardner's Credibility, 
etc., chap. Arnobius. 

2 Cave and Lardner place this work at A. D. 306; and the latter assigns his 
reasons against the former critics, who had, for the most part, brought it down to 
about A. D. 321, 



136 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



judgment. (Ps. i. 5.) Accordingly those only will 
be judged who believed in God ; and their deeds shall 
be weighed, the evil against the good, that, if their 
righteous works are more in number and weight, 
they may be admitted to happiness ; but if their 
wicked acts exceed, they may be condemned to 
punishment." 1 He proceeds, afterwards, to describe 
more particularly the future conditions of these 
several classes : the impious, who have never acknowl- 
edged the true God, shall be consigned to endless 
torment, in devouring yet unconsuining flame ; 
but the professors, whose sins exceed their righteous- 
ness, shall be more slightly touched and scorched 
by the fire ; while they who are fully matured in ho- 
liness shall pass through it without any sensation of 
pain. 2 

JS r either the sentiment of Arnobius, nor that of 
Lactantius, on this subject, though different from each 
other, appears to have occasioned any complaint or 
dissatisfaction. Both of these authors acquired con- 
siderable fame. The latter was the most elegant and 
classical writer of all the Latin fathers ; and the fond 
partiality of his admirers has ventured to compare his 
style, for excellence, with that of Cicero. 

Eesuming the history of Origen's doctrine, we 
discover that, in addition to the particulars on which 
Methodius had inveighed against him, he began now 
to be accused of error concerning the Trinity and 
Incarnation. To the former of these points the 



1 Lactantii Institut., lib. vii., cap. 20. 

2 Ditto, lib. vii., cap. 21. Du Pin has not exactly stated Lactantius's meaning 
here. 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



137 



public attention had been awakened, more than half a 
century before, by Origen's own controversy with 
Beryllus ; and afterwards, by those that the church 
carried on against Noetus, Sabellius, and Paul of 
Samosata. And if, as is thought, Lucian, a learned 
presbyter of Antioch, had still more lately advanced 
notions contrary to Trinitarianism, the circumstance 
would naturally add fresh excitement to feelings 
already on the alarm. The jealousy, thus roused and 
cherished, was now scrutinizing every form of ex- 
pression, in order to detect heresy on this subject ; 
though the self-constituted censors were by no means 
clear nor unanimous as to the precise point they them- 
selves would regard as truth. Many began to dis- 
cover, in the writings of the venerated Origen, ex- 
pressions inconsistent with their favorite tenet ; and 
consequently the enmity against him, which had hither- 
to been confined to a few individuals, instantly spread 
to a considerable extent. Some became satisfied, 
perhaps from candid examination, that if he were 
not really heretical, he had given too much occa- 
sion to error; but others, having gathered up some 
of his more adventurous speculations concerning 
the Godhead, broke out into clamor, and pronounced 
him, at once, a heretic. And there were others 
again, unable to read the Greek, who took up 
against him on mere report ; of which, as usual in 
such cases, the loud tone of hatred and abuse was 
much sooner heard, than the still, small voice of truth 
and commendation. They accused him of various 
and opposite errors ; but so manifest was the false- 
hood of most of their charges that nothing could 



138 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



more conclusively demonstrate the unreasonable 
motives of the attack. So high did the indignation 
rise, that even those who only read his writings or 
cherished his reputation were severely censured. 1 

This angry commotion, though we cannot now 
ascertain its authors, was then regarded as sufficiently 
formidable to require a public defence of Origen ; 
and two distinguished admirers of his writings, who 
held offices in the church where he himself had 
flourished sixty or seventy years before, undertook 
the work. Pamphilus, a learned presbyter of Cesarea 
in Palestine, and Eusebius, his fellow-presbyter, the 
renowned father of ecclesiastical history, 

A. D. 307 to 310. J 7 

wrote a large and labored Apology for 
Origen; in part of which they stated, and thoroughly 
canvassed, the accusations brought against his doc- 
trine. Happily for us, this part, which was the 
first book of the work, is still extant, in the Latin 
translation of Rufinus. The authors formally arrange 
the charges of his enemies against him, in the 
following order : " 1 . They [_his accusers] say he 
asserted that the Son of God is unbegotten ; 2. They 
accuse him of teaching, like the Valentinians, 
that the Son of God came into existence by 
emanation; 3. They charge him, contrary to the 
former accusations, of holding with Artemas and 
Paul of Samosata, that Christ, the Son of God, 
was a mere man, and not God ; 4. Next, they 
contradict all these charges by saying (so blind is 
malice) that he taught that it was only in appear- 



1 Pamphili Prsefat. ad Apolog. Pro Origene, compared with Apolog. cap. v., 
etc., inter Origenis Opera, edit. Delarue, torn. iv. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM. 



139 



ance the Saviour performed the deeds ascribed to 
him, and that the history of him is but an allegory, 
not a reality; 5. Another charge they bring is, 
that he taught there were two Christs ; 6. They add 
that he wholly denied the literal accounts which 
the Scriptures give of the lives of the saints ; 7. 
They calumniously attack him on the resurrection 
of the dead, and the punishment of the impious ; 
accusing him of denying that torments are to be in- 
flicted on sinners ; 8. They censure some of his argu- 
ments or opinions concerning the soul [that is, its 
pre-existence'] ; 9. The last charge of all, which is 
circulated in every shape of infamy, is, that he 
asserted that human souls will, after death, be 
changed into dumb animals, either reptiles or quad- 
rupeds ; and also that brutes have rational souls : 
which charge we have placed last, that we may 
collect the more testimonies from his books, to 
render the falsehood of it the plainer. " Now," con- 
tinue they, "observing the order of the charges 
above stated, we will begin with the first." 1 They 
accordingly proceed with them in course ; and, by 
adducing copious extracts from Origen's own writings, 
successfully defend him from each of the accusations, 
except the eighth, which relates to the pre-existence 
of human souls. This, they admit, was truly his 
sentiment ; but they excuse it, as being probably 
correct, or at least of no consequence even if er- 
roneous. 

We cannot discover, in all this affair, that his doc- 
trine of Universal Salvation was regarded as censura- 

1 Apolog. pro Origene, cap. v. 



140 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



ble ; and an incidental circumstance shows that his 
learned apologists neither knew that he had ever been 
reproached for that tenet, nor suspected that it could 
occasion any odium whatever. For, when they come 
to defend him against the latter item in the seventh 
charge, that is, against the charge of having denied 
all future punishment, they select, among several 
other testimonies from his works, two distinct para- 
graphs, in which he had, as usual, spoken of torments 
to be hereafter inflicted by fire ; but in which he, at 
the same time, represented them as altogether reme- 
dial : "We are to understand," said he, "that God, 
our physician, in order to remove those disorders 
which our souls contract from various sins and abomi- 
nations, uses that painful mode of cure, and brings 
those torments of fire upon such as have lost the 
health of the soul, just as an earthly physician, in ex- 
treme cases, subjects his patients to cautery." "And 
Isaiah teaches that the punishment said to be inflicted 
by fire is very needful ; saying of Israel, the Lord 
shall wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of 
Zion, and purge the blood from their midst, by the 
spirit of judgment, and the spirit of burning. (Isa. 
iv. 4)," etc. 1 

This testimony from Origen, like a thousand other 
passages which might have been selected from his 
writings, was, indeed, an effectual refutation of the 
particular charge brought against him ; but it was, at 
the same time, a proof that he regarded future punish- 
ment as purifying and salutary. Had this sentiment 
been obnoxious at that day, Pamphilus and Eusebius 

1 Apol. pro. Origene, cap. viii. 



OF UNI VERBALISM. 



141 



would rather have avoided such passages than have 
obtruded them, thus unnecessarily, upon the attention 
of his captious enemies ; lest, in defending him from 
an accusation so easily refuted, they should bring 
upon him one that could never be removed. And we 
may add, that their introducing such passages, with- 
out remark, while maintaining that Origen was sound 
in the faith, gives, at least, some color of probability 
to the charge which was nearly a century afterwards 
brought 1 against them, of holding with him the doc- 
trine of Universal Restitution as well as that of pre- 
existence. Of Pamphilus there is nothing else ex- 
tant ; so that, in his case, this appearance can neither 
be confirmed nor removed. And it would probably 
be difficult, if not impossible, to determine, from the 
numerous works which Eusebius afterwards published, 
what was his opinion on this subject. 2 Both, how- 
ever, were ardent admirers of Origen's writings ; a 
large part of which the former had laboriously trans- 
cribed, with his own hand, for a famous ecclesiastical 
library, which he established at Cesarea. The two 
friends had likewise published corrected copies of the 
Septuagint, taken from the Hexapla. We may add, 
that Eusebius has been accused of holding Origen's 
peculiar notion, that human bodies, at the resurrec- 
tion, will be of an aerial substance. 3 

1 By Jerome, lib. ii., Adversus Rufinum, p. 407; torn, iv., partii., edit. Martia- 
nay ; and afterwards by an anonymous writer of the sixth century, published by 
R. P. Lupo. See Delarue's Admonitio in Apolog. S. Pamphili pro Origene. Both 
of these authors, however, seem to have grossly misrepresented, at least, the cir- 
cumstances of the case. 

2 I have not access to all the works of Eusebius ; but judge this statement cor- 
rect from'the general character of his writings, and from the silence of all the 
ancient fathers and modern critics. 

3 Photii Epist. 144. 



142 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



Pamphilus was thrown into prison at Cesarea, in 
the year 307, by the heathen persecutors ; and Euse- 
bius either underwent the same sentence, or volunta- 
rily shared his confinement. It was here that the 
two friends began the Apology, When they had 
proceeded to the end of the fifth book, Pamphilus was 
led forth from prison to martyrdom. This was in 
the year 309. Eusebius then added the sixth, or last, 
book to the common work, and dedicated the whole 
to those Christians who were condemned to labor as 
slaves in the mines of Palestine. 1 

Eusebius survived to witness the most eventful and 
momentous change which the church has ever experi- 
enced. He was elevated to the bishopric of Cesarea, 
about a. d. 313, when Christianity first received a full 
and effectual toleration ; and, in succeeding years, he 
beheld it continually rising in the favor of Constan- 
tine, till it was, at length, declared the estab- 

A.D. 324. ° 

lished religion of the empire. Amidst the 
scenes of security and worldly splendor which now 
succeeded the long and tempestuous reign of persecu- 
tion, the Bishop of Cesarea, high in the imperial favor, 
often looked back, in tender remembrance, to his 
early associate and martyred friend ; and as a testi- 
monial of an affection which neither time nor honors 
could extinguish, he wrote his life, and took upon 
himself the surname of Pamphilus. That his admira- 
tion also of Origen did not diminish with increasing 
years, we find ample proof in his Ecclesiastical His- 
tory, and in his succeeding works. He was, by far, 
the most learned bishop of his time ; and, what is 

1 Delarue Admonit. in Apolog. pro Origene. 



OF UNIVERSALIS!. 



143 



greater praise, he was moderate and unaspiring, in an 
age of clerical violence and ambition. Though the 
favorite of Constantine, he never abused his influence 
either for personal or party purposes ; and when the 
great bishopric of Antioch was offered him, on the 
deposition of Eustathius, he declined exchanging his 
own diocese of Cesarea for that of all the East, the 
third for dignity in Christendom. 

The latter part of his life was disturbed by the 
unholy and cruel contest which began to rage between 
the Arians and Trinitarians ; in which he often con- 
curred in the measures of the former, though he did 
not approve their doctrine. They were, in his time, 
the injured party. Whether his views on the con- 
tested question itself were fully orthodox is disputed ; 
and it is certain that, in the famous council of Nice, 
he not only urged the petulant bishops to adopt such 
a Declaration of Faith as both parties could receive, 
but that he also refused to subscribe their Creed, 
except with an interpretation of his own. 1 

The Arian controversy, to which we have just al- 
luded, began at Alexandria, about a. d. 317, bring- 
ing a dark cloud over the church in the very morning 
of her political establishment. It spread instantly, 
like a conflagration, over all Egypt, and soon involved 
Europe and Asia. The great and imposing synod of 
all Christendom, which assembled a. d. 325, at Nice, 
in Asia Minor, was called together by the Emperor, 
with the vain hope of determining this dispute ; but, 
though it managed to decide against Arius by an al- 

1 Jortin (Remarks on Eccl. Hist., vol. iii.) treats largely and impartially of Eu- 
sebius's character 



144 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



most unanimous decree, that the Son was Consubstan"- 
tial with the Father, it resulted only in dignifying 
the contention, and enraging the temper of the parti- 
sans. These separated into three divisions : the Con- 
substantialists, or patrons of the Nicene Creed; the 
Semi-Arians , a sort of imperfect Trinitarians ; and the 
Avians, who held that Christ was a created being. A 
most disgraceful scene followed, till toward the close 
of this century. Council against council assembled, 
and deliberately opposed falsehood to falsehood, and 
fraud to fraud ; deposition and excommunication were 
decreed, as either party gained a momentary ascen- 
dancy in the church ; the imperial authority obsequi- 
ously enforced the mad decrees alternately of each 
sect, till it filled the deserts of Egypt and the remote 
regions of the empire with exiled bishops ; and the 
furious rabble, on both sides, resorted at length to 
riots and massacres, to gratify their revenge, or to 
exercise their malicious zeal. The heathens, from 
whom the power of persecution had been so lately 
wrested, might have consoled themselves in prospect 
of its being more effectually exerted in the self-de- 
stroying hands of a divided and factious national 
church. 

Into this scene of contention we must now follow the 
history of Origin's doctrine. It does 

A. D. 320 to 360. , . , , ° , , 

not, . indeed, appear to have been, at 
first, so deeply implicated as some writers represent. 
The virulent attacks from which Pamphilus and 
Eusebius had defended him seem to have subsided ; 
and all the concern that his name or his writings 
had with the grand controversy, till some time past 



OF UNIVERSALIS^!. 



145 



the middle of this century, may be described in a few 
words. As his great authority would give consider- 
able advantage to any cause in which it was exerted, 
the several parties gladly availed themselves of it, 
whenever it could be brought to operate in their 
favor ; but on the contrary, when it seemed to oppose 
their views, they would naturally endeavor to depre- 
ciate it. The Arians, however, do not appear to have 
been very confident of securing the patronage of his 
name, though some of them claimed him for their 
own. But of the two other parties, the Semi- Arians 
were generally his professed admirers ; and the Con- 
substantialists, also, appealed to his testimony, as full 
and explicit upon their own side. So far as we know, 
only one of them, Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra in 
Galatia, incidentally impeached the soundness of his 
faith concerning the Trinity. 1 This was about a. d. 
330. But he was an author whose complaint could 
have little weight, as it was suspected that his 
zeal against the damnable heresy of Arius had pre- 
cipitated him, on the other hand, into the perdition 
of Sabellianism. We must here digress so far as to 
mention that Marcellus seems also to have held the 
doctrine of universal salvation, or at least to have 
used its language. 2 To return, however, to the Arian 
controversy : the guardian genius of the Nicene 
faith, the great and intrepid Athanasius, ahvays 
quoted Origen as orthodox ; Hilary of Poictiers in 
France, the ablest and most active defender of the 

1 Eusebii contra Marcell., lib. i. See Du Pin's Biblioth. Patr., art. Eusebius 
Pampbilus. ^ 

2 Neandcr Allgem. Geschicbte der Christ!. Ral. und Kirche. Band ii.. s. 609. 
He quotes Eusebius contra Marcell., lib. ii., cap. 2 and 4. winch I hsw 



146 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



same faith, in the West, became an imitator of his 
writings ; and so did Eusebius Vercellensis, 1 another 
Athanasian bishop of distinction, who presided over 
the churches scattered round the sources of the 
modern Po, in Italy. This example of their leaders 
was followed by most of the party. Some years 
afterwards, or about a. d. 370, when Basil the Great, 
Didymus, and the two Gregories Nazianzen and Nys- 
sen, stood at the head of the Consubstantialists in the 
East, we find them among Or i gen's warmest admirers, 
defending him from the occasional claims of the 
Arians. This sketch, though brief, is a pretty full 
account of the treatment his name experienced in the 
Arian dispute, till a. d. 360, and indeed till several 
years later. 

On certain other subjects, however, not immediately 
connected with the main controversy, he was once 
attacked, during this period, with a very angry 
spirit, by Eustathius, an eminent orthodox bishop of 
the East. This prelate had been translated from the 
bishopric of Bercea, the modern Aleppo, to the great 
see of Antioch, about the time of the Mcene council ; 
but in a. d. 330, he was deposed by an Arian fac- 
tion, and, as we have observed, his archbishopric was 
offered, though in vain, to Eusebius Pamphilus, who 
had concurred with his adversaries. Whether it was 
after this deposition, that Eustathius made his attack 
upon Origen, cannot be determined ; nor whether it 
was his motive to mortify his hated rival of Cesarea, 
by bringing a general odium on the favorite father, 

1 Hieronymi Epist. lxxiv. ad Augustin., torn, iv., part ii., p. 627; and Epist. 
xxxvi. ad Vigilant., p. 276. 



OF UNIVERS ALISM. 



147 



"whom that learned historian had so highly extolled. 
But he published, at what time is unknown, 1 a treatise 
against Origen, in which he assailed him with much as- 
perity, and foolishly charged him with lying against the 
Scriptures and with endeavoring to introduce idolatry 
and magic into the church. The professed object of 
his book was, like that of the Pythoness of Methodius, 
to prove that it was not the soul of the prophet 
Samuel that the Witch of Endor raised, as Origen 
had somewhere asserted, but only a phantom pro- 
duced by the imposture of the devil. He frequently 
takes occasion, however, to rail against several other 
notions of Origen, particularly against his views of 
the resurrection, and his extravagant allegories. Of 
the latter he recites and misrepresents numerous 
instances, with the manifest design to expose his 
doctrine in the worst possible light ; but in all this 
learned bishop's reproaches, which fell even upon 
Origen's style of writing, Universalism, it seems, 
escaped with impunity. 2 And what is equally remark- 
able, this was likewise the case amidst all the clamor 
of the Arian controversy, so far as we have just 
surveyed it. 

The next attack upon him was that of Apollinarius 
the Younger, a learned bishop and distinguished writer 
of Laodicea in Phrygia, who was afterwards con- 
demned for Sabellianism. He is said to have written 

1 There is much uncertainty in the history of Eustathius. Some think he died 
ahout A. D. 337; others that he lived till about A. D. 360. See Cave, Hist. Litera- 
ria, and Du Pin's Bibliothcca Patr., art. Eustathius. 

2 Eustath. de Engrastrimytho, adverses Origenem. I have not been able to find 
this book, and have therefore drawn my account from the notices of it scattered 
through Huetii Origeniana, and from Du Pin's abstract, Biblioth. Patr., art. 
Eustathius. 



148 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



against Origen, not far, probably, from a. d. 360 ; 
but on what points is unknown, except that it was not 
on the doctrine of the Trinity. 1 This completes 2 the 
account of censures on his sentiments, till we arrive 
at the year 376, when the attack of Epiphanius will 
come under our notice. 

Such was the general character of the proceedings 
relative to Origen and his sentiments, and such the 
peculiar circumstances and facts we have- narrated, as 
to show, satisfactorily, that the doctrine of Universal 
Eestoration was regarded, in the church, as neither 
heretical nor even unpopular ; and that the standard 
of orthodoxy, so far as it concerned that particular 
point, was then supposed to require only a belief in 
future punishment. Still, we must not thence con- 
clude that the fathers of this age were, in general, de- 
cided Universalists. Many of them had, probably, no 
definite opinion at all upon a subject which had never 
undergone the ordeal of controversy; and several 
would seem to have believed in endless misery. This 
will be sufficiently apparent, if we select some of the 
strongest expressions which the more distinguished of 
them used respecting the fate of the damned. Every- 

1 Theophili Alexandrini Paschal., lib. i., inter Hieronymi Opera, torn, iv., 
p. 694, edit. Martianay ; and Socratis Hist. Eccl., lib. vi., cap. 13. 

2 Cave mistakes -when he says, in hi3 Life of Origen, § 29 (Lives of the Fathers), 
that Athanasius indirectly condemned his notion of the end of hell torments ; for 
the piece to which he refers (Testimonia ex Sac. Script, de Nat. Commun. simil. 
Essent. inter Pat. et ML et Spirit. Sanct.) is not .Athanasius's, but a much later 
author's. See Cave, Hist. Literaria, and Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat., art. Athanasius, 
and the Benedictine Editors' Preface to that piece in Athanasii Opera, torn, ii., p. 3. 

If Huet (Origeniana, lib. ii., cap. 4, sect, i., § 5) alluded, as I think he did, to 
Vitas Sancti Antonii, cap. 75, for Athanasius's covert censure of Origen's notion 
of the lapse of souls, he also mistook; for the passage regards only the notions of 
heathens on that point, not Origen's. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



149 



body knows that the first, in influence, 

17 ' . A. D. 347 to 370. 

among the orthodox at this time, was 
Athanasins : " Kepent," says he, "lest at any time 
your soul should be snatched away by death ; for 
none can deliver those who, on account of their sins, 
are confined in hell." 1 Yet the same author held that 
Christ descended to hell, or the place of the dead, 
after his crucifixiou, and released the saints of the old 
dispensation, and likewise the souls of such Gentiles 
as had, before his coming, lived virtuously according 
to the light of nature. 2 This, too, was the opinion of 
Cyrill, 3 Bishop of Jerusalem; whom we might also 
pronounce a believer in endless misery, if his frequent 
application of the word everlasting to punishment 
were proof. At the future coming of Christ to the 
general judgment, then just at hand, and which is 
described, he thinks, in the last chapter of Daniel, and 
in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth of St. Matthew, 
the just were to be admitted to eternal life, and the 
wicked consigned to everlasting fire. 4 , We may 
venture, nevertheless, to assert that neither of those 
two bishops regarded Universalism with any 
antipathy. Ephraim the Syrian, a gloomy, rigid, 
and somewhat fanatical monk of Mesopotamia, but 
still a very eminent writer, asserted that "there is 
no confession in hell; no tears, no groans, can there 
avert the sentence of the Judge. There will no 
longer be any time to repent. There is no return 
after death ; but everything terrible and severe falls 

1 Athanasii Exposit. in Psalm xlix., torn, i., p. 1086,. edit. Paris, 1698. 

2 Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat., art. Athanasius. 

3 Cyrilli Hierosolymit., Catechesis iv., cap. 8; and Catechesis Mystagogica v. 

4 Catechesis xv. 



150 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



on those who have lost the opportunity for repent- 
ance." 1 In the Western church, the celebrated 
Hilary, Bishop of Poictiers, taught, with a slight varia- 
tion from what Lactantius had advanced, that in the 
general judgment neither the pious nor the infidels 
are to be arraigned ; because Christ had said, He that 
believeth on me shall not be judged, and, he that be- 
lieveth not is condemned already. The judgment, 
accordingly, shall be for those only who hold a middle 
grade between these two characters. 2 And such, he 
probably held, would be saved, after suffering the ar- 
rears due them from justice ; while the case of the 
obstinate infidels would be utterly hopeless. But still 
it was his opinion that all mankind, even the very 
holiest, must pass through the intense and painful 
fire of the general conflagration : the Virgin Mary her- 
self cannot be exempted from this terrible purification ; 
for Simeon had forewarned her, that a sword should 
pierce her own soul also. (Luke ii. 35.) 3 As Hilary 
had been an exile in Phrygia, he may have obtained 
some of these notions among the Eastern Christians ; 
and perhaps from Origen's works in particular, which 
he certainly admired and imitated. 

Another writer among the orthodox of the West, 
Fabius Marius Victorinus, uses language 

A. D. 350 to 370. ii- 

which seems to express the ultimate pu- 
rification and holiness of all intelligent natures ; yet, 
as he introduces it but incidentally, and in a very 
blind illustration of the divinity of Christ, we ought 



1 Ephraem Syri> lib. De Extremo Judicio, cap. 4. 

2 Hilarii Enarratio in Psalm i. 

3 Enarratio in Psalm cxviii., liter, Oimel. 



OF UNIVERSALIS^!. 



151 



not, perhaps, to rely on it as absolute proof of his 
views on the former point. We despair of giving any 
intelligible translation of his argument in its relation 
to the Trinity. In it, however, he contends that Christ, 
or the Logos, who is the active power of God, created 
all things, and will regenerate all things. By the life 
that is in him, and which is universally diffused, all 
things will be purged and return into eternal life. 
He is to subject all things to himself, whether men, or 
principalities, or powers, in order that God may be- 
come all in all. When this shall have been accom- 
plished, God will be all things ; because all things will 
be full of God. All things, adds he, will still exist; 
but God will exist in them. 1 Such is the tenor of his 
representations on this subject. It is worthy of re- 
mark that, in a poem, he applies the epithet ceternus, 
or everlasting, to the fire of future punishment. 2 

Victorinus was an African by birth, but became a 
distinguished pagan rhetorician at Rome, where he 
was so much admired, that a statue was erected to 
him in one of the public places of the city. After he 
had taught there many years, and had grown old, he 
was converted to Christianity, about a. d. 350. He 
wrote several works, chiefly in defence of Trinitarian- 
ism, and against the Manicheans ; and died about the 
year 370. 3 

There were, at this time, some decided Universal- 

1 F. Marii Victorini AM. Adv. Arium, lib. i. et iii. I find the work in a collec- 
tion of tracts of the ancient fathers, entitled Antidotum contra diversas omnium 
fere Seculorum Hcereses, Basil, 1528; see pp. 52, 63, 64. 

2 Ut Supra, De Machabceis, p. 81, etc. 

3 For the account of his life, see Du Pin's Bib. Pat., art. Victorinus of Africk. 
Murdock's Mosheim, vol. i., p. 309, 



152 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



ists among the orthodox bishops and 

A. D. 360 to 370. . ". 11 n 

writers, especially of the East. About 
forty miles east of the river Jordan, beyond the hilly 
tract of the ancient Perea, the traveller descends upon 
a spacious, barren plain, where vestiges of forgotten 
towns appear here and there, and a few sunken reser- 
voirs still supply the wandering hordes and the regu- 
lar caravans with water preserved from the winter 
torrents. Traversing this neglected waste to the dis- 
tance of a dozen or fifteen miles still eastward, he ar- 
rives at the ruins of an ancient city, near the borders 
of the Desert Arabia. Fragments of the old walls, 
remains of a splendid temple, of triumphal arches, 
of a church and monastery, and of a great mosque, 
together with numberless pillars broken and lying 
among rose-trees in bloom, indicate the site of the 
ancient Bostra. 1 In the fourth century it was a popu- 
lous city, the capital of a small province to which the 
vanity of the Roman conquerors had arrogantly appro- 
priated the name of Arabia. At the period of which we 
write, Titus, a bishop of considerable eminence, pre- 
sided here, over the churches in this district, and num- 
bered among his own Christian flock half of the inhabi- 
tants of the city . Though he appears to have published 
several works, none remains except part of his books 
Against the Manicheans, written, it is thought, about 
a. d. 364. He says that the "abyss of hell is, indeed, 
the place of torment ; but it is not eternal, nor did it 
exist in the original constitution of nature. It was 
made afterwards, as a remedy for sinners, that it might 

1 D'Anville's Ancient Geography, vol. i., p. 425; and Burckhardt's Travels in 

;• ' TT ~ I - Land, pp. 226—236, London, 1822. 



OF UNIVERSALIS^. 



153 



cure them. And the punishments are holy, as they 
are remedial and salutary in their effect on trans- 
gressors ; for they are inflicted, not to preserve them 
in their wickedness, but to make them cease from 
their wickedness. The anguish of their suffering 
compels them to break off their vices." 1 His treat- 
ment of this point , after passing unreproached through 
all the contests of antiquity, has, in modern ages, 
attracted the notice of our ecclesiastical critics, and 
engaged them in the contrary attempts of exposing, 
and of exculpating, the author. 2 It is remarkable 
that he contended that death, as well as every other 
dispensation of Providence, was designed for the 
benefit both of the just and of the unjust, 3 and that 
he maintained against the Manicheans that, even in 
this world, mankind are happy or miserable according 
to their virtue or vice. With the doctrine of original 
sin he seems to have been utterly unacquainted ; and 
he supposed that human agency was fully adequate, 
without any supernatural control, to do good as well 
as evil. 4 

Of the events of his life we know little more than 
that, like most of the distinguished orthodox bishops 
of this time, he was honored with the notice and the 

1 Titi Bostriensis contra Manichseos, lib. i., p. 85. N. B. — This work is pub- 
lished only in Canisii Lector, and in the great Bibliotheca Patrum, to neither of 
which I have access. I therefore quote from Ceilleir's Histoire des Auteurs Sacres 
et Ecclesiastiques, torn, vi., chap. 6, p. 54. 

2 Tillemont. though a most strenuous defender of the fathers, is candid enough 
to acknowledge (ilemoires Eccl., torn, vi., p. 671) that "Titus seems to have fol- 
lowed the dangerous error ascribed to Origen, that the pains of the damned, and 
even those of the demons themselves, will not be eternal." But Ceilleir has the 
hardihood to plead that the passage is not clear, etc. 

3 Contra Manich., lib. ii., pp. 107, 112. See the quotations in Ceilleir, p. 51. 
* Du Pin's Bibliotheca Pat., art. Titus of Bostra. 



154 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



persecution of the Emperor Julian. In the year 362 
this zealous apostate endeavored to excite the people 
of Bostra to expel their bishop ; but the influence of 
the prelate seems to have prevailed over the exhorta- 
tion of the sovereign, and the malicious attempt proved 
ineffectual. On the accession of Jovian to the em- 
pire, A. d. 363, Titus attended the council of Antioch 
under Meletius ; and, though his name appears, with 
those of some other orthodox bishops, among the sub- 
scriptions to a Semi-Arian explanation of the Mcene 
Creed, 1 he nevertheless seems to have been considered 
one of the Athanasian party. He died, it is thought, 
about a. d. 370. 

More learned and classical than Athanasius, and 
next to him in weight of authority among the 

A. D. 370. ° 

orthodox of the East, was Basil the Great, 
Bishop of Cesarea, in Cappadocia. With a constitu- 
tion naturally feeble, and broken, moreover, by monk- 
ish austerities, he possessed a strong mind, a cour- 
ageous resolution, a temper active, but too ambitious, 
and an eloquence of a manly and noble kind. Of his 
views respecting the doctrine under consideration, we 
cannot pronounce with confidence, as his language is 
not uniform, nor always reconcilable. He repeatedly 
states, at considerable length, that those who, after 
baptism, indulge in sins, however heinous, and die un- 
der the guilt of them, are to be purified in the fire of 
the general judgment ; 2 distinguishing them, however, 
from such as have never professed Christianity. Yet, 
at another time, while admonishing one of those very 



1 Socratis Hist. Eccl., lib. iii., cap. 21. 

2 Basilii Comment, in cap. iv. 4, Esaise, and cap. xi., 16, etc., edit. Paris, 1637. 



OF UXIVERSALISM. 



155 



characters, he conceals that notion, and for the sake, 
perhaps, of striking the greater terror, asserts that 
their future torments "will have no end," and that 
"there is no release, no way to flee from them after 
death. Xow is the time in which we are allowed to 
escape them." 1 On the contrary, again, he sometimes 
represents the purifying and salutary operation of fu- 
ture fire or punishment as extending, without distinc- 
tion, to guilty souls in general. Commenting on these 
words of Isaiah (ix. 19, Septuagint version), because 
of the wrath of the Lord, the whole earth is kindled 
into flame, and the people shall be as though they were 
burnt up with fire, Basil says, "The prophet declares 
that, for the benefit of the soul, the earthly things are 
to be consumed by penal fire ; even as Christ himself 
intimates, saying, I have come to send fire upon the 
earth ; what would 7, except that it be kindled ? " (Luke 
xii. 49.) And the prophet adds, "the people shall be 
as though they ivere burnt up with fire; he does not 
threaten an absolute extermination, but intimates a 
purification, according to the sentiment of the apostle, 
that if any one's work be burned, he shall suffer loss, 
but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." (1 
Cor. iii. 15. ) 2 From this solitary passage we can 
only suspect that our author was, at times, inclined to 
Universalism. 

His own brother, the Bishop of Nyssa, was a Uni- 

1 Basilii Epist. and Virginem lapsam, torn, iii., p. 18. 

2 Basilii Comment, in cap. ix. 19, Esaiae. If the Regulse Breviores be Basil's, 
he there (Interrog. 267) labored to reconcile the absolute eternity of punishment 
with the fact that some shall be beaten with many stripes, and others with few. 
But this piece has been ascribed to Eustathius of Sebastea (see Du Pin's Biblio- 
theca Pat., art. Basil), a cotemporary with Basil. "Whoever the author was, he 
certainly meant to be considered a believer in strictly endless misery. 



156 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



versalist ; and his most intimate friend, Gregory Nazi- 
anzen, may in some degree merit that appellation. 
Like them, Basil was also a professed admirer of 
Origen's writings ; and, with the assistance of the 
latter, he selected from them and published a volume 
of choice extracts, consisting of such passages as the 
two friends most highly valued. It is a gratification 
to light on circumstances that seem to connect the 
writers of this age with earlier fathers, to whose ac- 
quaintance we have been introduced at a former pe- 
riod. Basil was brought up in the metropolis of 
Cappadocia, and perhaps in the very church where 
Firmilian presided a century before. His grand- 
mother, Macrina, under whom he received his juve- 
nile education and his first impressions of piety, had 
been, in her youth, a hearer of Gregory Thaumatur- 
gus, in Pontus ; for whom she inspired her young 
scholar with a profound and lasting veneration. He 
himself, in middle life, spent some time as a monk iu 
the solitudes adjacent to the ancient residence of the 
famous Wonderworker ; and soon afterwards, on his 
return to Cappadocia in the year 370, he was ordained 
over the same bishopric which Firmilian had once 
governed. 

In his general system of doctrine, there was nothing 
that can have struck his cotemporaries as very pecu- 
liar. Though addicted to the allegorical mode of in- 
terpreting the Scriptures, he was quite moderate in this 
respect, compared with some others of that age. It is 
worthy of remark, that he approached nearer to the 
notion of original and total depravity than had any ■ 
of the earlier fathers ; though he still fell short of the 



OF UNIVERSALIS^. 



157 



modern standard, and was what we should now call 
an Arminian. 

In early life he travelled extensively, studying at 
Cesarea in Palestine, at Constantinople, at Athens, 
and finally in the monasteries of Egypt. Here he 
was initiated into the monastic life ; for which, like 
most of his cotemporaries, he always maintained a 
zealous attachment. Like them, too, he formed his 
views of practical religion by the false standard of 
that perverse and fanatical discipline. 

That class of devotees, to which we have once or 
twice alluded, the monks, had now be- 

A. D. 370 to 376 

come numerous m many parts of the 
East, where their unnatural mode of life began to be 
held in general veneration, and to be patronized 
by nearly all the bishops and doctors. Athanasius, 
Basil, Ephraim the Syrian, the two Gregories, 
Epiphanius, and others, were its strenuous advo- 
cates. It had been very lately introduced, with great 
success, into the desert parts of Palestine, Syria, 
Pontus, and Mesopotamia ; but to Egypt belonged the 
glory, or more truly the dishonor, both of its origin 
and of its rapid growth to maturity. A century be- 
fore the present period, one or two individuals fled 
from the heathen persecutions into the frightful wastes 
that border the long, narrow tract of vegetation watered 
by the Nile. Habit and a mistaken devotion gave 
them a relish, at length, for what necessity had thus 
forced upon them ; and they continued to follow, from 
choice, a kind of life more suited to the reptiles, their 
associates, than to human beings. Their example, so 
congenial with the absurd notions of the times, drew 



158 



THE ANCIENT HTSTORY 



many after them. Multitudes succeeded multitudes ; 
till the number of monks, in that country alone, had 
now increased to tens of thousands, all governed by 
established rules, and forming an institution which 
was thought the brightest ornament of the church. 

Among them we discover that, about this time, a 
considerable body had become distinguished by an 
appellation which seems to have been but newly 
introduced; that of Origenists. 1 These were, of 
course, certain followers of Origen. The name, 
however, of every indefinite application probably at 
first, did by no means extend to all his admirers, nor 
even to all his imitators ; for though the celebrated 
fathers, Gregory Nyssen, Didymus, and Jerome, were 
known to be of the latter class, it does not appear 
that they were considered, till after many years, as 
belonging to the particular party under considera- 
tion. 2 What distinguished the Origenists, properly 
so called, from other avowed disciples of their master, 
cannot be ascertained ; perhaps it was some special 
combination among themselves for party purposes, or 
a more clamorous zeal in urging their designations. 
That they were, in some sense, a specific party, 
appears from the circumstance of their sectarian 
denomination ; but it should be remarked, that they 
were as yet in the full fellowship of the orthodox 
communion, and that they seem to have been scattered 

1 Epiphanii Pa'narium, Hseres. lxiv., § 3. This is the earliest passage in which I 
have found that appellation. 

2 Id proof of this, among many other facts, is that of Jerome's contention with 
some Origenists at Rome, about A. D. 382, and his forsaking Mtria, in A. D. 386, 
out of dislike to them ; though he himself was, at this time, a devout admirer of 
Origen's works. 



OF UN1VERSALISM. 



159 



among the churches, as well as monasteries, in various 
parts of Egypt. 

There was one celebrated retreat, however, where 
they particularly abounded. About fifty miles south 
of Alexandria, beyond the lake Mareotis and a long 
extent of burning sands succeeded by plains heaped 
with pebbles, rose the bare and sun-burnt hills of 
Mtria, amidst a boundless prospect of desolation. 1 
It was in the borders of the great Lybian Desert. 
Around these hills the monks had gathered into a vast 
community, the most famous, perhaps, and with the 
exception of that at Oxyrinchus, the most numerous, 
of all they had yet formed. This was the principal 
seat of the Origenists. They appear to have consti- 
tuted the smaller part of five or six thousand recluses. 2 
As strangers resorted hither, even from distant coun- 
tries, in order to acquire the monastic discipline and 
precepts in their perfection, many attached themselves 
to the new sect ; and, travelling afterwards through 
different parts of Christendom, they propagated their 
vieAVS and partialities wherever they went. At a pe- 
riod a few years later, we shall find some, though per- 
haps not all, of them to have been Universalists. 

The Origenists, as a party, were attacked by Epi- 
phanius, Bishop of Salamis on the island of 
Cyprus. He was a man of much reading, 
but very careless, inaccurate, and notoriously disposed 
to adopt every slanderous report against those whom 
he disliked. In a large work, designed to confute all 

1 Sonnini's Travels in Egypt, chap. 26 and 27. The desert of Nitria is about 
thirty-iivc miles west of Terane, a village on the Nile. 

2 For the number of monks at Nitria, see Fleury's Eccl. Hist., book xvi., chap. 
36. 



160 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



the heresies that had ever appeared, he devotes one 
of the longest articles, of thirty or forty folio pages, 
to the errors of Origen Adamantius and his party. 1 
Having given an account of his life, in some points 
false and injurious, he says, "As to the heresy of Ori- 
gen, it was first propagated in Egypt ; and at this day 
it flourishes chiefly among those who profess the mo- 
nastic life. It is a pestiferous heresy, exceeding in 
wickedness all the former ones, the errors of which it 
indeed embraces. For, though it is attended with no 
appearance of vice among its votaries, it teaches the 
most absurd notion concerning God. From this 
fountain it was, that Arius and his sectaries derived 
their errors. Origen proceeded to such an extent 
of temerity, as to assert that the only begotten Son 
cannot behold the Father, nor the Holy Ghost see 
the Son, nor angels the Holy Ghost, nor man the 
angels. This was his first error : For he held the 
Son to be of the substance of the Father in such a 
way as that he was nevertheless created. He held 
still more heinous errors ; for he taught that the 
souls of men existed before their bodies, and were 
angels or superior powers, who have been consigned, 
on account of their sins, to these mortal frames, for 
the purpose of punishment. We could mention ever 
so many of his notions : that, for instance, which he 
entertained, that Adam lost the divine image by 
transgression. Hence it is, says Origen, that the 
Scripture mentions the coats of skins with which God 



1 The Origeniani, whom Epiphanius describes in Haeres. lxiii., are suspected to 
have been creatures of his imagination. See Lardner's Credibility, etc., chap. 
Noetus, and others called Heretics, etc. 



OF UXIVERSALISM. 



161 



clothed our first parents ; which coats he takes to be 
their bodies. There are, iudeed, an infinite number 
of dogmas advanced by him, worthy of ridicule and 
laughter. He even represented the resurrection in an 
imperfect and defective manner, partly asserting it in 
appearance, and partly denying it in reality. In other 
words, he supposed that only a part of man is to be 
raised. And finally, he turned whatever he could 
into allegories ; such as Eden or Paradise, and its 
waters ; and the waters which are above the firma- 
ment, and those which are under the earth," etc. 1 
Epiphanius then proceeds to treat, at considerable 
length, on his views of the Trinity and the resurrec- 
tion, inserting nearly all the treatise of Methodius on 
the latter subject ; after which, he returns to inveigh 
once more against his notions of the coats of skins, 
of pre-existence, and of the resurrection, calling him 
" an infidel, and worse than an infidel." It is remarka- 
ble that, like all the former opposers of Origen, he, 
too, passes over the doctrine of Universalism in si- 
lence ; though we discover that he himself, at the 
same time, believed that there is no change of condi- 
tion nor room for repentance after death. 2 This at- 
tack, though professedly against the Origenists, was 
directed more particularly against their master himself. 
It seems to have been the last he suffered till the 
famous contest that arose at the end of this century, 

1 Epiphanii Panarium, Haeres. lxiv., § 4. This passage, which I have com- 
pressed a little, contains about every point that Epiphanius censures throughout 
the whole article. This part of his work is supposed to have been written in 
A. D. 376. See Lardner's Credibility, etc., chap. Epiphanius. 

2 Ditto, Haeres. lix. 



162 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



in which Epiphanius will again appear as a principal 
actor. 

We have already advanced into a period that forms 
a distinguished era in our historv. Uni- 

A. D. 370 to 383. ° _ „ 

versalism appears to have been, for a 
while, the sentiment of a majority of the most emi- 
nent orthodox fathers in the East. Gregory Nyssen, 
Didymus, Jerome, and Diodorus of Tarsus, were its 
advocates ; and the celebrated Gregory Nazianzen, who 
was elevated at length to the bishopric of Constantino- 
ple, hesitated between this doctrine and that of endless 
misery. His readiness in expounding the Mcene 
faith acquired for him the appellation of The Theolo- 
gian; and of all the fathers, except Chrysostom, he is 
the most renowned for a brilliant and glowing elo- 
quence. His works are, of course, declamatory and 
exhortative, rather than doctrinal ; but he has still left 
sufficient proofs of the unsettled state of his opinion. 
Sometimes he represented future misery as a dispen- 
sation of mere torment, opposed to all corrective suf- 
fering ; and asserted that in hell, or the place of the 
dead, there can be no confession nor reformation. 1 
But at other times he thought it probable that those 
torments would be directed to the salvation of the 
sufferers. "I have mentioned," says he, "the purify- 
ing fire which Christ came to kindle upon earth ; who 
is himself figuratively called fire. It is the nature of 
this fire to consume the grosser matter, or vicious 
character, of the mind. But there is also another 
sort of fire, not of purgation, but intended for a 
vindictive punishment of wickedness : whether it be 

1 Gregorii Nazianzeni Oratio Decimaquinta, p. 229, torn, i., edit. Paris, 1630. 



OF UNIVEUSALISM. 



163 



that of Sodom, which, mixed with sulphur and storm, 
God pours upon all sinners ; or that which is pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels ; or even that which 
proceeds before the face of the Lord ; or lastly, that 
more formidable than all, which is connected with the 
unsleeping worm, and is never extinguished, but is 
continual and everlasting, for the punishment of 
wicked men. It is the nature of all these to ruin, 
to destroy ; unless, however, one may suppose 
that the fire, in this case also, is to be understood 
more moderately, and as is worthy, indeed, of the God 
who punishes." 1 In another passage, speaking of the 
Novatians, an heretical sect, he says, "Perhaps they 
will be baptized, in the next world, with fire, which 
is the last baptism, and is not only keen, but of great 
duration, and which shall feed on the dull matter, as 
on hay, till it shall have consumed all their sins." 2 
Such is the indecision of Gregory upon this subject, 
that it is of little consequence to mention his re- 
peated application of the word everlasting to future 
punishment. 

It has been said, by one of the best critics 3 on 
ecclesiastical history, that of all the fathers of the 
fourth century, there was not a more moderate nor 
worthier man than Gregory Nazianzen. Uniting a 
quick and deep sensibility with a lofty imagination, he 
was too contemplative, too fond of retirement, to 
engage willingly in the perpetual contentions of his 
age, or even to relish the tumults of a public life. He 

1 Greg. ISazianz., Oratio xl., pp. 664, 665, torn. i. 

2 Ditto, Oratio xxxix., p. 636, torn. i. 

s Le Clerc. See Jortiu's Remarks on Eccl. Hist., vol. iv., p. 95, London, 1773. 



164 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



condemned the eaptiousness of the zealous bigots 
upon doctrinal points ; though one would suppose 
that he himself was, in this respect, fastidious enough. 
The clergy of that day, he boldly, and it appears 
justly, represented as a body of men avaricious, quar- 
relsome, licentious, and, in one word, unprincipled; 
and of the frequent councils, which then disturbed 
the peace of the church, he declared that he was afraid 
of them, because he had never seen the end of one 
that was happy and pleasant, or that did not rather 
increase than diminish the evil. 1 Nothing can more 
strikingly evince the universal intolerance of the age, 
than that one of its most pacific men approved, and 
sometimes urged, the persecution of heretics, and 
openly lamented that the apostate Emperor Julian 'had 
not been put to death by his predecessor. 

His intimacy with Basil the Great began in early 
life, amidst the schools of Athens. Having already 
studied both in Palestine and at Alexandria, Gregory 
repaired to this seat of Grecian literature about the 
year 244, and was, not long afterwards, joined by 
his young companion. Here they became acquainted 
with Julian, the future emperor, then a youth like 
themselves. Gregory at length returned home to 
JSazianzum, a small city in the south-western part of 
Cappadocia, of which his father was bishop. But 
when Basil, on his return from the monasteries of 
Egypt, retired to a solitude in Pontus, he followed 
him to that retreat, assisted him in establishing the 
monastic institutions there, and, as it seems, remained 
awhile after his friend had engaged in a more public 

1 Greg. Nazianz., Epist. lv. 



OF UN1VERSALISM. 



165 



and distinguished sphere. The latter was ordained 
Bishop of Cappadocia, in a. d. 270 ; and wishing to 
preoccupy, against the attempts of a rival, the small 
and obscure village of Sasima, on the confines of his 
jurisdiction, he recalled Gregory from his retirement, 
and appointed him bishop of the contested place. 
Gregory resented this heartless conduct in his friend ; 
and, refusing to accept the unworthy appointment, 
took up his residence again at Nazianzum, assisting 
his a°*ed father in the care of the church. After the 
death of his venerable parent, he went to Selucia, 
and thence, at the urgent request of the bishops, to 
Constantinople, where he arrived about a. d. 378. 
He found the city full of Arians, who occupied all 
the churches ; the orthodox few, dispirited, and 
destitute of a place for public worship. After preach- 
ing awhile in private houses, his eloquence and austere 
life drew into his flock a number sufficiently large to 
erect a spacious church, which they called The Anas- 
tasia, or Resurrection, to intimate the revival of the 
Consubstantial faith. The attention of the whole 
city was roused ; the triumphant orthodox, the here- 
tics of all kinds, and even the heathens, crowded in 
a mingled mass to the Anastasia, to feast on his 
doctrine, or to admire the enchantment of his 
eloquence ; and such was the pressure of the throng, 
as sometimes to crush down the railing which enclosed 
the pulpit. 

In the midst of his success, however, he was deeply 
wounded by the ingratitude of an unprincipled but 
sanctimonious wretch, whom he had cherished. This 
impostor, named Maximus, formed a faction among 



166 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



the orthodox themselves, at Alexandria and other 
places, to usurp the bishopric of Constantinople ; 
came with his partisans, and forcibly entered" Greg- 
ory's own church ; and, when driven out by the 
alarmed multitude, appealed, though in vain, to the 
Emperor Theodosius. He finally succeeded, however, 
in prevailing on the Italian bishops to countenance 
his project ; and he found too many among the 
eastern clergy, who, out of envy, favored his cause. 
Few men, perhaps, were less fitted than Gregory, 
to act amidst such circumstances. Though bold, 
vehement, and resolute when surrounded by avowed 
enemies to his faith, opposition from his own party 
withered his heart, and sickened him of life. He 
sought to retire from Constantinople to solitude. 
But the anxious entreaties of his people so far pre- 
vailed that he deferred his resolution ; and the new 
Emperor Theodosius, making his first entry into Con- 
stantinople towards the end of the year 380, drove 
the Arians from all the churches in the city, banished 
their bishop, and introduced Gregory to the posses- 
sion, and to the revenues, of their great or cathedral 
church. 1 This new state of things seemed to afford 
him a space of quiet ; and in the General Council 
which assembled the next year, at Constantinople, he 
was confirmed in his bishopric. Before the close of 
the session, however, or perhaps in another session 
held at the same place in a. d. 382, new difficulties 
broke out : Gregory's stern integrity gave offence to 
some, as it thwarted their intrigues ; and his popu- 
larity aroused the jealousy of others. Sinking under 

1 It stood on the spot now occupied by the mosque of St. Sophia. 



OF UN I VERBALISM. 



167 



premature old age, wearied with contention, and dis- 
gusted with the vices of the bishops, he resolved, 
notwithstanding the bitter lamentations of his friends, 
to resign a post that continually exposed him to the 
abuse of clerical envy and ambition. In the great 
church of Constantinople, so lately wrested from the 
Arians, he ascended the pulpit for the last time, sur- 
rounded by the members of the General Council, by 
his own beloved people, and by the wonted crowd. 
He repeated the history of his success in that city, 
described the doctrine he had preached, besought the 
bishops, by forsaking their contentious practices, to 
heal the divisions of the church, and concluded by 
taking leave of public life and of the scenes of his 
labors. 1 He retired immediately to Nazianzum, 

1 " Farewell, Anastasia ! " said he; "thou that sawest our doctriue raised up 
from its low, despised estate; dear seats of our common victory, our new Siloam, 
where first the ark of our God rested, after its hopeless wanderings in the desert. 
Farewell, too, this great and august temple, where we meet ! our new heritage ; 
thou that wast a Jebus before, now converted to a Jerusalem. And ye other sa- 
cred edifices, also scattered over the whole city and its suburbs, farewell 1 the 
grace of God, and not our feeble exertions, hath now filled you with the faithful. 
Thou envied and dangerous pre-eminence, episcopal throne, farewell I Farewell, 
pontifical palace, venerable for thine age and the majesty of the priesthood! 
Farewell, ye choirs of Nazareans I whose strains of psalmody I shall no more 
hear, whose nocturnal celebrations of our Lord's resurrection I shall no more at- 
tend. Ye holy virgins, ye widows and orphans, ye eyes of the poor, turned 
alternately to heaven and towards the preacher, farewell I Farewell, ye hospita- 
ble domes, devoted to Christ, which have so often assisted my infirmity ! Ye 
mingling throngs that crowded to my sermons, ye swift-handed notaries, ye rails, 
pressed by my greedy auditors, farewell I Farewell, emperors and courts ! Fare- 
well, thou imperial city, whose zeal, though not, perhaps, according to knowledge, 
I yet will frankly testify ! May thy service of God be more sincere, and thy fruits 
of righteousness more abundant. Ye bishops of the East and West, farewell ! 
why will not some of you imitate this my resignation, and restore peace to the 
divided and contentious church ? I call you but to relinquish dignities upon earth, 
for heavenly thrones, far safer, and more exalted. Ye angels, the guardians of 
this church, and of my presence and wanderings, farewell ! Thou sacred Trinity 1 
my meditation and my glory, oh, may I hear of the daily increase of this my peo- 
ple, their growth in knowledge and grace. And ye, my people, for mine ye are, 
though another shall govern you, — my little children, keep the faith I have deliv- 
ered you, remembering my labors and my sufferings." Greg. Nazianz., Oratio 
xxxii. fin., torn, i., pp. 527, 528. 



168 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



where he lived in obscurity and quiet, employing 
himself in devout exercises, and in poetic composition. 
He died about a. d. 389, aged not far from seventy 
years. His plain, determined integrity is worthy of 
all praise ; and the unblemished purity of his life and 
manners, though veiled under the shade of monastic 
gloom, commands our highest respect. His eloquence, 
which has been absurdly compared to- that of Demos- 
thenes, was formed on the turgid style of the Asiatics, 
rather than on the severe simplicity of the Grecian ; 
and it was therefore the better adapted to discourse 
on mysteries, and to excite the wonder of an ignorant 
populace. 

The feebleness of a body, subdued by rigorous 
austerities, must have increased the sensibility of his 
temperament ; and this, united with the generous and 
confiding character of his affections, exposed him to 
perpetual afflictions from the baseness and ingratitude 
of mankind. It is no wonder that to such a man, the 
difficult station, which he prudently resigned, was 
attended with a weight of cares insupportable. The 
church, however, has always held his memory dear ; 
and his name still occupies a respectable place on the 
pages of ecclesiastical history. 

Like Basil, he was moderately given to the alle- 
gorical method of exposition. We have already men- 
**oned their mutual admiration of Origen's writings. 

But in this he was perhaps surpassed by his friend, 
vrregory Nyssen, the brother of Basil the Great. 
This eminent father and bishop followed Origen's 
system in allegorizing the Scriptures, farther than most 
of his cotemporaries : though he still avoided many 



OF UNIVERSALISM . 



169 



of his extravagances, and rejected some of his 
notions. 1 The doctrine of Universal Salvation, how- 
ever, he adopted and taught more frequently 2 than, 
perhaps,- any other early writer whose works are 
extant. 

Endeavoring to wrest from the Arians that expres- 
sion of St. Paul, Then shall the Son also be subject 
unto him who put all things under him (1 Cor. xv. 
28), and to make* it appear consistent with Trinitari- 
anism, he takes occasion to explain the connection at 
large, in order to point out what he supposes to be 
the apostle's argument: "What, therefore," says he, 
"is the scope of St. Paul's argument in this place? 

1 See Gregorii Nysseni. Disputat. de Anima et Resurrect., pp. 264, 265, 269. Lib. 
de Creatione Hominis, cap. 29, p. 459, and cap. 30, p. 462. De Hist. Sex Dierum, 

< pp. 293, 294, edit. Basil, 1562. 

2 A plea first advanced more than three hundred years after Gregory Nyssen's 
death, to defend him from the imputation of Universalism, is sometimes repeated, 
though in a faltering manner, by modern critics. Germanus, Bishop of Constanti- 
nople, who flourished about A. D. 730, contended, that in Gregory Nyssen's Dia- 
logue on the Soul, in his great Catechetical Oration, and in his Tract on the Perfect 
Life of a Christian, all such passages as taught the restoration of the devils and 
of the damned had either been corrupted or added by the Origenists; and for 
proof he referred to the connections of the passages in question, and to the al- 
leged fact that in other places Gregory had contradicted that sentiment. (See 
Photii Biblioth., God. 233.) Du Pin, wbo, by the way, misrepresents Germanus, 
manifestly desires to avail himself of this plea ; but at the same time betrays his 
want of confidence in it. (Bibliotheca Patrum, art. Gregory Nyssen.) The truth 
is, it would be impossible to take Universalism out of Gregory Nyssen's works 
without destroying some of his pieces, and rendering others unintelligible; and 
there is no reason to suspect that it was wrongfully inserted in the three books 
which Germanus names. That Gregory ever denies the doctrine in question, I 
have not discovered. The independent Daille (De Usu Patrum, lib. ii., cap. 4, 
Latin edition, for the English, and probably the French are incomplete) treats 
Germanus's supposition with merited contempt. " It is the last resort," says he, 
"of those who with a stupid and absurd pertinacity will have it that the ancients 
wrote nothing different from the faith at present received; for the whole of 
Gregory Nyssen's Orations are so deeply imbued with the pestiferous doctrine in 
question, that it can have been inserted by none other than the author himself." 
Dr. T. Burnet also (De Statu Mort. et Resurg., p. 138, London, 1733) pronounces 
the plea of Germanus vain. See note 2, on p. 172, following '. 



170 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



That the nature of evil shall, at length, be wholly 
exterminated, and divine, immortal goodness embrace 
within itself every rational creature ; so that of 
all who were made by God, not one shall be excluded 
from his kingdom. All the viciousness, that like a 
corrupt matter is mingled in things, shall be dis- 
solved and consumed in the furnace of purgatorial 
fire ; and everything that had its origin from God 
shall be restored to its pristine state of purity." 
The author proceeds to contend, in his abstruse and 
mystical way, that the human nature which Christ 
assumed, being so intimately connected with the com- 
mon nature of man, that the apostle here calls it "the 
first fruits" of the human race, the subjection of all 
mankind to God may, by a figure, be called the sub- 
jection of Christ himself, the first fruits. "When 
therefore the dominion of sin within ns shall be 
entirely overthrown, everything must, of course, be 
subject to him who rules over all ; because there can 
be no opposing inclination in the universe. Now, 
subjection to God is perfect and absolute aliena- 
tion from evil. Wherefore, when we all shall be 
freed from sin, and perfectly assimilated to Christ, 
our first fruits, and made one uniform body with him, 
then what is called the subjection of Christ is, in 
reality, accomplished in us ; and because we are his 
body, our subjection is attributed to him who effected 
it in ourselves. Such, we think, is the meaning of 
St. Paul in this passage : For as in Adam all die, 
so also through Christ shall all be made alive; but 
every one in his own order: Christ, the first fruits; 
then they who are Christ's at his coming; then 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



171 



cometh the end, when he shall have deliverea up the 
kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall 
have abolished all dominion, and authority, and 
power. For he must reign till he hath put all 
enemies under his feet. The last enemy, death, shall 
be destroyed. For he hath put all things under his 
feet. But when he saith, All things are put under 
him, it is manifest that he is excepted who did put 
all things under him. And when all things shall 
be subjected to him, then shall the Son also himself 
be subjected to him who put all things under him; 
that God maybe all in all. (1 Cor. xv. 22 — 28.) 
It is manifest that here the apostle declares the ex- 
tinction of all sin, saying, that God will be all in all. 
For God will be truly all in all only when no evil 
shall remain in the nature of things, as he is never 
engaged in evil," etc. 1 

Gregory held different degrees of happiness in 
heaven, apportioned to the different merits which the 
blessed had acquired upon earth ; 2 and different de- 
grees of future punishment, according to the various 
characters of the sufferers. "I believe," said he, "that 
punishment will be administered in proportion to each 
one's corruptness. For it would be unequal to tor- 
ment with the same purgatorial pains him who has 
long indulged in transgression, and him who has only 
fallen into a few common sins. But that grievous 
flame shall burn for a longer or shorter period, ac- 
cording in the kind and quantity of the matter that 



1 Tract in Dictum Apostoli, Tunc etiam ipse Films subjicietur, etc., p. 137, and 
seq. 

2 Lib. De Infantibua quae praemature abripiuntur. 



172 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



supports it. Therefore, to whom there is much cor- 
ruption attached, with him it is necessary that the 
flame which is to consume it should be great, and of 
long duration ; but to him in whom the wicked dispo- 
sition has been already in part subjected, a propor- 
tional degree of that sharper and more vehement 
punishment shall be remitted. All evil, however, 
must, at length, be entirely removed from everything, 
so that it shall no more exist. For such being the 
nature of sin, that it cannot exist without a corrupt 
motive, it must, of course, be perfectly dissolved 
and wholly destroyed, so that nothing can remain 
a receptacle of it, when all motive and influence shall 
spring from God alone," etc. 1 

In another place he asserts that as the devil " as- 
sumed a fleshly shape in order to ruin human nature, 
so the Lord took flesh for the salvation of man ; and 
thus he blesses not only him who was ruined, but him 
also who led him into perdition ; so that he both de- 
livers man from sin, and heals the author of sin him- 
self." 2 

Like the earlier Universalists , Gregory freely applied 
the word everlasting to future punishment, — a circum- 
stance which, probably, has betrayed some critics into 
the hasty conclusion that he sometimes denied the 
doctrine of universal restoration, and asserted that 
of endless misery. A remarkable use of that phrase 
occurs in a passage where he alludes to the ultimate 

1 Disputatio de Anima et Resurrectione, p. 260. 

2 Oratio Catechetica, cap. 26. I here subjoin the titles of those works in which 
Gregory Nyssen teaches Universalism : De Anima et Resurrectione; Oratio 
Catechetica; De Infantibus qui prsemature abripiuntur; Oratio de Mortuis; In 
Dictum Apostoli, Tunc ipse Filius subjicietur Patri ; De Perfectione Christian!. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM. 



173 



fate of such as have become confirmed in debauchery. 
"Whoever," says he, "considers the divine power 
will plainly perceive that it is able, at length, to re- 
store, by means of the everlasting purgation and ex- 
piatory sufferings, those who have gone even to this 
extremity of wickedness." 1 

His general system of doctrine it is unnecessary to 
state at large, since it was the same that distinguished 
the orthodox of his age. A few particulars, how- 
ever, may be specified : The opinion, universally re- 
ceived by the Christians of this century, that regen- 
eration was experienced only in the rite of water 
baptism, was, of course, entertained by Gregory; 
and with them he agreed that it was effected by the 
exertions of the human will, aided by the proffered 
assistance of the Divine Spirit. Predestination and 
irresistible grace, in their modern sense, were as yet 
unknown in the church. In one or two respects our 
author was an honorable exception to the prevalent 
superstition of his cotemporaries ; he dissuaded from 
the growing practice of pilgrimages to shrines and 
holy places ; and, though a patron of the monastic 
life, he defended the excellence of matrimony both 
by precept and example ; being himself one of the 
few married bishops of that age. 

He has left one production, his Life of Gregory 
Thaumaturgus, which involves him, as an author, in 
the charge either of unbounded credulity, or of total 
disregard of historical truth. It is a worthless legend, 
enlivened only with fictitious miracles the most foolish, 
and with disgusting tales the most incredible. That 

1 De Infantibus qui praemature abripiuntur, p. 178. 



174 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



he even presumed to lay it before the world is a suf- 
ficient indication of the universal stupidity, and of the 
thorough corruption of the public taste. Could illus- 
trious precedent, however, exonerate from the crimi- 
nality of falsehood or disingenuous fiction, he might 
justly plead that of the great Athanasius, who appears 
to have set the first example of these monkish ro- 
mances, by his Life of Anthony; and three or four 
productions, of the same character, which soon after- 
wards appeared under the honored names of Jerome 
and Sulpitius Severus, have contributed much to re- 
lieve Gregory from the disgrace of solitary folly. 
The rest of our author's works are composed in a style 
dry, involved, and obscure ; and they abound in ab- 
surd allegories and abstruse mysticism. In learning, 
he was second to few of his day ; in influence, he stood 
among the first in the orthodox party. It is remarka- 
ble that he has never been condemned for his Univer- 
salism ; and that he was never even censured for it 
till two or three centuries after his death. 

In his youth he was so strongly inclined to a lit- 
erary life, that it was with much difficulty he was per- 
suaded to abandon his favorite study of rhetoric, in 
order to take upon himself the duties of the ministry. 
About a. d. 371, when not far from thirty-two years 
old, he was ordained Bishop of Nyssa, a small city in 
the western part of Cappadocia. Valens, the Arian 
emperor, being then on the throne of Constantinople, 
drove several orthodox bishops into exile ; and in the 
year 374 procured, by the means of his lieutenant 
Demosthenes, the expulsion of Gregory from his 
church. But, after four years of absence, he was 



OF UN1VEESALTSM. 



175 



recalled, with the rest of the banished bishops, on the 
accession of Theodosius the Great, and permanently 
established in his office. Soon afterwards, either the 
council of Antioch, or that of Constantinople, appointed 
him to visit, with other delegates, the churches of 
Pontus and those of Arabia, in order to revive among 
them the orthodox faith and discipline ; and the new 
emperor honored him, in the prosecution of this duty, 
with a public conveyance. It appears that some time 
after his return he was called to Constantinople on 
the death of the Empress Placilla, in a. d. 385, to 
pronounce her funeral oration. He died at Nyssa, 
about the year 394, aged nearly sixty. 

We have somewhat delayed the introduction of an 
eminent Universalist who flourished at this period 
among the orthodox in Egypt, and whose renown for 
profane and sacred learning filled all the East. Didy- 
mus the Blind, of Alexandria, though much older than 
Basil or either of the Gregories, seems not to have 
acquired his extensive reputation till their fame, also, 
had spread through the church. Deprived forever 
of his eyesight when only five years old, he neverthe- 
less succeeded in making himself master of grammar, 
rhetoric, logic, music, arithmetic, and even the most 
difficult parts of the mathematics ; and his knowledge 
of divinity was so highly esteemed, that he was elected 
President of the great Catechetical School in his na- 
tive city. He was a professed admirer of Origen, 
whom he considered as his master, and whose books 
Of Principles he illustrated with brief Commentaries, 
defending them against the misconstructions of the 
Arians. 



176 



THE ANCIENT HISTOEY 



That he was a Universalist, the uncontradicted tes- 
timony of cotemporary and succeeding writers 1 is, 
perhaps, sufficient evidence ; but his condemnation, as 
such, by the General Council of Constantinople, more 
than a century and a half after his death, confirms the 
fact, and at the same time proves that, with the doc- 
trine of the Eestoration, he also held that of the Pre- 
existence of souls. 2 That posthumous sentence of 
excommunication, however, by consigning his hereti- 
cal works to destruction, has denied us the satisfaction 
of adducing his own language ; but even in the few 
of his writings that still remain we find some traces of 
the obxoxious doctrine, which were probably over- 
looked by the ancient censors. He says that " as man- 
kind, by being reclaimed from their sins, are to be 
subjected to Christ in the fulness of the dispensation 
instituted for the salvation of all, so the superior 
rational intelligences, the angels, will be reduced to 
obedience by the correction of their vices." 3 It is 
said that he also disapproves of all servile fear. 4 

Though not reckoned among the Origenists of his 
time, Didymus was undoubtedly regarded by them, 
and justly, too, as their chief patron. We can hardly 
suppose that their own character was so perverse as it 
was afterwards represented, when we . consider the 
favor manifestly shown them by a Christian scholar of 

1 Jerome and Rufinus allude to it as a well-known fact. Cyrillus Scythopolita- 
nus (Vitse S. P. Sabse, cap. 90, inter Cotelerii Mon. Eccl. Graecae, torn. iii.),a writer 
of the sixth century, is the next whom I recollect. 

2 Cyrill. Scythopolit. Vit. S. P. Sabae, cap. 90. 

3 Didymi Comment, in 1 Pet. iii. I have not access to this work, which is to be 
found only in the great Bibliotheca Patrum ; and I therefore quote from Huetii 
Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 2, quaest. iii., § 26. 

4 Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat., art. Didymus. He refers to the above-named work. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 177 

his apparent good sense, and, what was yet more rare, 
invariable candor. He was a voluminous writer ; but 
only two or three of his works, his treatise On the 
Holy Ghost, his Commentaries on the Canonical 
Epistles, and a fragment of his book Against .the 
Manicheans, 1 have survived the waste of time, and 
the exterminating decrees of later ages. During his 
life, however, he was accounted a distinguished cham- 
pion of the orthodoxy of that period ; and he died 
peacefully in the general communion, honored and 
esteemed by the church. Like most of his cotempo- 
raries, he engaged heartily in support of the monastic 
institution ; and his renown, and his influential station 
as president of the first school in Christendom, enabled 
him to exert his zeal with much effect. In the list of 
scholars, who, at various times, studied under him, 
appear the names of Jerome, Rufinus, Palladius, and 
Isidorus. He died probably in the year 394, aged 
about ninety. 2 

Could learning, talents, and immortal renown, 
when dissociated from sound integrity 
and the mild spirit of the gospel, confer 
honor on any doctrine, Universalism might exult in 
pronouncing the famous Jerome one of her advocates. 
About the middle of this century, 3 he was sent, while 
yet a boy, from his native Pannonia beyond the 

1 There are some fragments of Commentaries on the Psalms, bearing his name, 
in the " Aurea Catena, interprete Daniele Barbaro." Venetiis, 1569. But I 
suppose that we have no good authority for attributing these to Didymus. 

2 Hieronymi Catalog., art; Didymus Alexandrinus, torn. iv. Da Pin mistakes 
his age, if indeed the figures in his account be not an error of the press. 

3 The year of Jerome's birth is uncertain. Du Pin, whom I follow, has at- 
tempted a chronology of the principal events of his life, according to which he 
must have been born about A. D. 340, or 342. Biblioth. Pat., art. Jerome, note 
0>). 



178 THE ANCIENT HISTORY 

Adriatic, to pursue his studies at Koine. Having 
at length completed his education there, and received 
baptism, he travelled, with an insatiable thirst for 
knowledge, first into the West, and visited the learned 
men in Gaul ; whence he returned, and, after a short 
stay in Italy, continued his journey, around the head 
of the Adriatic, into the East. Here he spent many 
years in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, studying with 
the eminent fathers and doctors, attending the 
councils, and practising the monastic discipline in all 
its rigors. In the course of these various pursuits, 
he studied awhile (about a. d. 380) under Gregory 
Xazianzen at Constantinople ; and after making a 
visit, of some length, at Eome, he sailed to Egypt, 
and entered the monasteries of Xitria, in the year 386. 
He soon came down to Alexandria, however, and 
there spent about a month under the instructions of 
Didymus. But disliking the Origenists, though him- 
self a professed admirer of their master, he left 
Egypt and retired to Palestine. Secluded in a little 
cell at Bethlehem, amid the scenes of our Saviour's 
nativity, he devoted his time to monkish austerities, 
and to writing Commentaries, in imitation of Origen, 
on the New Testament. These appeared about a. d. 
388. 

In that upon Ephesians, he represents the apostle 
as teaching that all mankind shall eventually come, in 
the unity of the faith, and in the knowledge of the Son 
of God, into a perfect man in Christ Jesus ; 1 and that 
"in the end, or consummation of things, all shall be 



iHieronymi Comment., lib. ii., in Epist. ad Ephes.. cap. iv. 13, torn. iv. parti., 
edit. Martianay. 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



179 



restored to their original state, and be again united 
in one body." 1 He says, "We cannot be ignorant 
that Christ's blood benefited the angels and those 
who are in hell ; though we know not the manner 
in which it produced such effects." 2 In another pas- 
sage, he represents "the whole intelligent creation 
by the simile of an animal body," of which the flesh, 
arteries, veins, nerves, and bones, having been dis- 
sected and scattered around, are all to be united again 
by a skilful hand, and reanimated. "Now," contin- 
ues he, "in the restitution of all things, when Christ, 
the true physician, shall come to heal the body of 
the universal church, torn at present and dislocated 
in its members, then shall every one, according to 
the measure of his own faith and knowledge of the 
Son of God, assume his proper office, and return to 
his original state ; not, however, as some heretics 
represent, that all will be changed into angels, or 
made into creatures of one uniform rank. But each 
member shall be made perfect according to his pe- 
culiar office and capacity. For instance, the apos- 
tate angel shall become such as he was created ; and 
man, who has been cast out of Paradise, shall be 
restored thither again. And this shall be accomplished 
in such a way, as that all shall be united together by 
mutual charity, so that the members will delight in 
each other, and rejoice in each other's promotion. Then 
shall the whole body of Christ, the universal church, 
such as it was originally, dwell in the celestial Jeru- 
salem, which, in another passage, the apostle calls 



1 Hieronymi Comment., lib. ii., in Epist. ad Ephes., cap. iv. 4. 

2 Ditto, ad Ephes., cap. iv. 10. 



180 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



the mother of saints." 1 Again, Jerome says, "the 
apostate angels, and the prince of this world, and 
Lucifer, the morning star, though now ungovernable, 
- licentiously wandering about, and plunging themselves 
into the depths of sin, shall, in the end, embrace the 
happy dominion of Christ and his saints." 2 

At the time of writing these Commentaries, Jerome 
was towards the age of fifty. His influence among 
the orthodox we shall have abundant occasion to ex- 
emplify. At present, however, we may only trace a 
particular friendship, the unhappy termination of 
which we shall be obliged hereafter to describe as 
agitating the church, and, in some measure, affecting 
the cause of Universalism. Nearly twenty years 
since, during his first journey into the East, he hap- 
pened to stop awhile in the city of Aquileia, at the 
northern extremity of the Adriatic, and there formed 
an acquaintance with Eufinus, a young and promising 
scholar of the place. Their friendship continued un- 
disturbed down to the present period, and even some- 
what later. Eufinus had early followed him into the 
East : in company with Melania, a noble lady of 
Eome, he had sailed to Egypt in a. d. 372, visited 
the monks of Mtria, spent some time with Didymus 
at Alexandria, and then retired, probably the next 
year, with his patroness, to Jerusalem. Here Me- 
lania employed her abundant wealth in religious and 
charitable donations, in advancing the monastic cause, 

1 Hieronymi Comment., lib. ii., in Epist. ad Ephes., cap. iv. 16. 

2 Ditto, lib. i., in Epist. ad Ephes, cap. ii. 7. In other works, also, written about 
this time, Jerome asserted Universalism : Hieronymi Comment., lib. ii., in Epist. 
ad G-alatas, cap. iv. 1, and Comment, in Amos, cap. iv. The latter was not com- 
posed till about A. D. 390. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 



181 



and in supporting the numerous pilgrims who resorted 
to the holy places. With her Rufinus, among others, 
enjoyed a quiet retreat, and devoted himself to study 
and pious services, surrounded by the venerable ob- 
jects which the Holy City presented to awaken his 
devotion. He still remained here, when Jerome took 
up his permanent abode at Bethlehem, only six miles 
distant. Both had already entered freely into the 
sentiments of Origen ; and their present intimacy was 
well calculated to cherish those notions. There is no 
reason, however, to suppose that Rufinus was, at any 
time, a Universalist ; 1 unless we may derive a faint, 
and it seems unwarrantable, suspicion, from his having 
preserved, in his numerous translations from Origen, 
those passages entire which taught Universalism, 
while he altered or omitted such as disagreed with 
the orthodox Trinitarianism. This circumstance does, 
indeed, show that, if he did not believe the former 
doctrine, he nevertheless regarded it, like his cotem- 
poraries, as no reprehensible error; and his faithful 
attachment to John, the Bishop of Jerusalem, confirms 
this conclusion. 

Before we pass, it should be remarked that both 
Jerome and Rufinus, though Latin writers and na- 
tives of the West, belonged more properly to the 
eastern church, where their principal connections were 
formed, and where their doctrinal education was ma- 
tured. 

Evagrius Ponticus, who flourished among the ortho- 

1 Huet (Origenian., lib. ii., cap. 2, quaest. xi., § 25) thinks Rufinus insinuated 
that though the devil would be endlessly miserable, yet guilty men would suffer 
only temporary punishment. But to me, the passages to which Huet refers convey 
no intimation of the latter opinion, but rather the contrary. 



182 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



dox of this period as a scholar and monk of 

A. D. 390. r 

considerable eminence, must be pronounced 
a Universalist, on the undisputed testimony of the 
Fifth General Council ; in which, a century and a half 
after his death, he was anathematized with Didymus, 
for having taught the restoration of all, and the pre- 
existence of souls. 1 But the same sentence that has 
preserved the memory of his doctrine destroyed the 
obnoxious part of his writings, and left nothing but a 
few works consisting chiefly of ceremonial rules and 
practical instructions for monks. In these, both their 
subject and the circumstance of their having been tol- 
erated, render it improbable that anything is to be 
found to our purpose. We have, therefore, only to 
add a brief sketch of his life, and then proceed to 
some accounts of other individuals. 

Having come from his native country of Pontus to 
Cappadocia, not far from a. d. 375, he was appointed 
reader in the church of Cesarea, by Basil the Great ; 
on whose death Gregory Nyssen ordained him deacon. 
After a while Evagrius went to Constantinople, where 
he studied the Scriptures under Gregory Nazianzen, 
and was by him promoted to the archdeaconship. Here 
he remained a few years after his master retired from 
the city ; but, being at length obliged to flee from the 
matrimonial jealousy of a nobleman, he came to Jeru- 
salem, about a. d. 385, and was received and sup- 
ported in the charitable establishment of Melania. In 
the society of Kufinus and others he was here per- 
suaded to embrace the monastic life ; and, after a resi- 
dence of five years in Palestine, he went, in a. d. 390, 

i Cyrilli Scythopolit. Vit. S. P. Sabse, cap. 90. 



OF UNIVEESALISM. 



183 



to the famous retreat of Nitria, where he toot up his 
permanent abode among* the Origenists. The re- 
mainder of his life was passed in great austerity, and 
in close application to study and composition. He 
lived in the orthodox communion, and died at the age 
of fifty-four, with the reputation of much sanctity and 
considerable learning. 1 

Were it allowable to indulge conjecture on mere 
appearances, we might conclude that nearly all the 
leading Origenists of this period were believers in 
Universalism ; for such is the impression the histo- 
rian must naturally feel, in contemplating the peculiar 
circumstances of their lives, their intimacy with 
Didymus, and with others who are knoAvn to have 
held that doctrine, and their respect for the favorite 
father whose name they bore. Passing over the un- 
distinguished multitude, who had, perhaps, only their 
austerity and wretchedness to recommend them to 
a momentary reputation, and whose names could now 
form, at best, but a blank catalogue, there are still 
two or three who must here be introduced to notice. 
Palladius, a native of Galatia, and a disciple of Eva- 
grius Ponticus, in Egypt, was one of the ablest and 
most faithful supporters of the party. He was now 
a monk in the solitude of Nitria ; but ill-health soon 
driving him into the world, he afterwards obtained a 
bishopric in Asia Minor, became considerably known 
by the part he took in the public affairs of the church , 
and preserved his name from oblivion by writing 



1 We must not confound Evagrius Ponticus with his cotemporary Evagrius An- 
tiochenus, nor with a later writer, Evagrius Scholasticus, the ecclesiastical histo- 
rian. 



184 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



some historical or biographical works which yet re- 
main. Another influential member of the party was 
the venerable Isidorus, an aged presbyter of Alexan- 
dria, whom Athanasius had ordained many years be- 
fore, and who had spent his early life among the 
monasteries of the Mtrian desert. 

Directing our view to the churches of Palestine, 
we behold the episcopal chair of the Holy City 
filled by John of Jerusalem, an Origenist, who, with 
Isidorus, will hereafter appear, bearing an important 
part in the subject of this history, and affording some 
evidence that he was a Universalist. He had lately 
succeeded Cyrill in the bishopric of Jerusalem, where 
he enjoyed the friendship and support of Melania, 
Rufinus, and their associates. Of his earlier life, we 
only know that he was born about a. d. 356, that his 
youth was devoted to the monastic discipline, but 
that, quitting his retirement, he was ordained presby- 
ter before the year 378, and that he was chosen to the 
see of Jerusalem in a. d. 387. 

In most of the Universalists of this century the 
influence of Origen's writings is abun- 
dantly manifest. There were some, 
however, who had no sympathy with that father's 
general system of doctrine and turn of thought, and" 
who will not be suspected of having derived their 
views from him. It is well known that the Antiochian 
or Syrian school of divines, so called, differed widely 
from the Alexandrian, by rejecting the allegorical 
mode of interpretation and other fantastical specula- 
tions. Among them, Diodorus, Bishop of Tarsus, is 
distinguished for the apparent soundness of his judg- 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



185 



merit, and for the influence which he seems to have 
exerted in the Syrian churches. By a fragment, pre- 
served from his once numerous writings, we find that 
he, too, was a Universalist. "A perpetual reward," 
says he, "is appointed to the good, a recompense of 
their works, which is worthy the justice and equity of 
the Rewarder. For the wicked, also, there are 
punishments, not perpetual, however, lest the immor- 
tality prepared for them should become a disadvan- 
tage ; but they are to be tormented for a certain brief 
period, proportioned to the desert and measure of 
their faults and impiety, according to the amount of 
malice in their works. They shall, therefore, suffer 
punishment for a brief space ; but immortal blessed- 
ness, having no end, awaits them. For, if the rewards 
of the good surpass their works as much as the dura- 
tion of the eternity prepared for them exceeds the 
duration of their conflicts in this world ; so the puu- 
ishments to be inflicted for heinous and manifold sins 
are far more surpassed by the magnitude of mercy. 
The resurrection, therefore, is regarded as a blessing, 
not only to the good, but also to the evil. For the 
grace of God copiously and magnificently honors the 
good [that is, beyond their deserts'] ; and it adjudges 
punishment to the evil in mercy and kindness." 1 

Diodorus was, in early life, principal of a monastic 
school at Antioch, in which he taught with great repu- 
tation. Here he was afterwards ordained presbyter ; 
and, during the banishment of the bishop, by the 
Arian Emperor Valens, he was honored with the charge 
of the church in that metropolis of the East. About 

1 Assemani Bibliothec. Orientalis, torn, iii., part i., p. 324. 



186 



THE ANCIEXT HISTORY 



a. d. 378, he was appointed Bishop of Tarsus, in Cili- 
cia, the birthplace of St. Paul ; where he presided till 
his death, in the year 393 or 394. He was a learned 
and voluminous writer, especially of Commentaries on 
the Scriptures ; but his works have all perished except 
fragments quoted by ancient authors. Amidst the 
prevalence of allegorical interpretation, he adhered to 
the natural and simple import of the sacred text ; and 
it is supposed that his example contributed to estab- 
lish this mode of exposition among the Syrian churches. 
He was held in high esteem by the other Greek fathers 
of his day, Basil the Great, Gregory Nazianzen, 
Epiphanius, and Athanasius ; and, though he was sub- 
sequently suspected of having favored Nestorian views 
of the Trinity, no fault was ever found with him for 
his Universalism till many centuries after his death. 
It is worthy of distinct remark, that among the 
scholars who studied under him while at Antioch 
were John Chrysostom and Theodoras of Mopsuestia, 
afterwards so celebrated. 1 

Having so long; confined ourselves to the eastern 
churches, where alone we can discover the prevalence 
of Universalism, we may now turn our attention to 
the West. A multitude of obscure and almost for- 
gotten names, if we except those of Optatus, a Nu- 
midian bishop, and Philastrius, an Italian, fill the list 
of ecclesiastical writers among the Latins in the inter- 
val between the time of Victorinus and the present. 
Now, however, they had a very eminent and popular 
doctor in Ambrose, archbishop of Milan in Italy, — a 

1 For notices of his life, see Du Pin's Bib. Pat., art. Diodorus, Bishop of Tarsus. 
Murdock's Mosheim, vol. L, p. 295. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 



187 



man of moderate learning, but of a polite education, 
of the most vigorous talents, determined courage, and 
of an influence so powerful as to approach towards 
absolute authority in the state as well as in the church. 
Of the future condition of mankind, his views nearly 
coincided with those which Hilary and Lactantius had 
before advanced. All who have attained 
in this life to the character of perfect 
saints, such as the apostles and some others, will, he 
supposed, rise from the dead in the first resurrection ; 
and enduring, with little pain, the ordeal of the flam- 
ing sword, or the baptism of fire, at the gate of Para- 
dise, they will quickly enter into everlasting joy. But 
the imperfect saints will undergo a trial severer in 
proportion to their vices ; and such as have only been 
believers, without the virtues of the gospel, whom he 
denominates the sinners, will remain in the torments 
of fire till the second resurrection, and perhaps still 
longer, that they may be purified from their wicked- 
ness. These three classes, the perfect saints, the im- 
perfect, and the sinners, shall each be arraigned, 
except, perhaps, the first, at the great judgment-day ; 
and, what is remarkable, all who are then tried shall 
sooner or later be saved. But there is another, a 
fourth class, which he distinguishes as the impious or 
the infidels, who, together with the devil and his an- 
gels, shall never be brought to judgment, because they 
have been already condemned. For these he appar- 
ently reserves no chance of restoration, but leaves 
them to an eternity of hopeless suffering. 1 

1 Arobrosii Mediolanensis, in Psalm i., Enarrat., § 51, 52, 53, 54, 56; inPs. cxviii., 
Exposit. eerm. iii., § 14—17, and serm. xx., § 12, 13, 14, 23, 24. The dates of ihese 
works are placed from A. D. 386 to A. D. 390. 



188 



THE ANCIENT HTSTORY 



The author usually quoted under the name of 
Ambrosiaster, who is generally supposed to have 
been one Hilary, a deacon of Eome, held that all such 
believers as embrace erroneous doctrines, while they 
nevertheless retain the essential principles of Christi- 
anity, must be subjected to the purification of fire, in 
the future world, before they can be saved. 1 He 
likewise taught that our Saviour descended, after his 
crucifixion, to the invisible regions of the dead, and 
there converted all, whether impious or ordinary 
sinners, who willingly sought his aid. 2 Indeed, 
Christ's mission, according to him, enabled even the 
erring and apostatized powers of heaven to cast off 
the yoke of the devil, and to return to God ; 3 still, 
it appears to have been his decided belief that there 
were cases of such obstinate rebellion, among wicked 
souls as well as angels, as to be past all recovery. 

With the notice of this writer, we close, for the 
present, our account of the orthodox Christians. 

During more than half of this century, the Arians 
were numerous enough to dispute the superiority in 
the church, especially in the East ; and it is natural 
to inquire, What were their sentiments with regard 
to the ultimate salvation of the world ? But we shall 
seek in vain for their own testimony in answer. 
Though supported, in their day, by the influence of 
eminent bishops, and defended by the labors of 
learned doctors, the victorious fortune of their adver- 

1 Comment, ad Epist. 1 Corinth., cap. iii. 15, in Append, ad Ambrosii Mediola- 
nensis Oper., torn. ii. 

2 Comment, in Epist. ad Ephes., cap. iv. 8, 9. 

3 Ditto, ad Ephes., cap. iii. 10. E". B. — These Commentaries are supposed to 
have been written about A. D. 384. 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



189 



saries has obliterated almost every fragment of their 
writings, and left a wide erasure which no learning 
nor art can restore. We only know that, except in 
what related to the Trinity, their doctrine was consid- 
ered the same with that of the Consubstantialists ; and 
it seems that, in all the passion of controversial war- 
fare, they never reproached their unsparing opponents 
for their frequent avowal of Universalism. 1 These 
circumstances may strengthen a conjecture, which is 
not in itself improbable, that the doctrine received 
about the same degree of patronage among both 
parties ; so that neither was under temptation to 
accuse the other. From similar considerations, the 
suspicion of ambiguity naturally rests, likewise, upon 
the few Sabellians of this period. And we may 
extend the remark to the small schismatical sects of 
Novatians, Donatists, and Meletians ; who were sep- 
arated from the orthodox church only by some trivial 
distinctions of discipline and ecclesiastical govern- 
ment, or by the irregular succession of their bishops. 

The uncertain, or perhaps divided opinions of the 
Manicheans, on the subject of Universal Salvation, 
have been already mentioned. At present, however, 

1 Eunomius, one of the most celebrated Arians, who flourished from A. D. 360 to 
394, is charged by three Greek writers of the 12th century with having held that 
all the threatenings of eternal torments were intended only to terrify mankind, 
and were never meant to be executed. (See Balsamon ad Canon, i., Constantino- 
pol; and Harmenopulus, De Sect. 13; and J. Zonaras ad Canon, in Deiparam.) 
The authority of these modern Greeks, however, is but small; and in this case it 
is not sustained by any testimony more ancient, nor by the fragments of Euno- 
mius yet extant. On the contrary, in the formal Declaration of Faith which he 
sent to the Ernperor Theodosius, a. d. 383, he says, "they who persevere in im- 
piety or sin till the close of life shall be delivered to everlasting punishment." 
(Fabricii Bibb:oth. Graec, torn, viii., p. 260.) At the end of his Epilog, ad Apolo- 
giam, he remarks that, in the general judgment, Christ will consign such as make 
light of sin, to remediless suffering. Cavei Hist. Literar., art. Eunomius, p. 222.) 



190 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



it seems to have become the general belief, at least 
of those in Africa, 1 that many human souls would 
prove utterly irreclaimable, and be therefore stationed 
forever, as a guard, upon the frontiers of the world 
of darkness. The sect had now increased to a vast 
number, although abhorred by every other party, 
and indefatigably opposed by a large proportion of the 
orthodox writers, from Eusebius Pamphilus down- 
wards ; and it lurked in all parts of Christendom, 
notwithstanding it had been repeatedly proscribed by 
the edicts of successive emperors. Already could 
the alarming and inextinguishable heresy boast of 
many eminent advocates, and of some respectable 
authors ; and for several years it was honored with 
the patronage of the young Augustine, the future 
Bishop of Hippo and renowned orthodox father. The 
care of a pious mother had trained him up in the 
principles of the Catholic faith ; but at the age of 
seventeen he imbibed the sentiments of Mani; and, 
though never a very zealous partisan nor a thoroughly 
instructed disciple, he continued to cherish the pro- 
scribed doctrine till he entered on his thirty-first year. 
Residing, however, at Milan in Italy, in a. d. 385, he 
was 5 so struck with the arguments and illustrations of 
the eloquent Archbishop Ambrose, that he resolved to 
forsake the heresy ; and in the course of a year or 
two he was fully converted to the orthodox religion, 
and received, by baptism, into the church. 

1 Lardner's Credibility, etc., chap. Mani and his Followers, sect, iv., § 18. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 



191 



CHAPTEE VII. 

FROM A. D. 391 TO A. D. 404. 

The three principal sees of Christendom, were now 
^ filled by Pope Siricius at Kome, by the 

ambitious and unprincipled Theophilus at 
Alexandria, and by Evagrius (not Evagrius Ponticus) 
at Antioch. Of some inferior yet distinguished 
bishoprics, that of Constantinople was held by old 
Nectarius, successor of Gregory Nazianzen ; that of 
the island Cyprus, by Epiphanius, the aged and 
persevering enemy of the Origenists ; and John , the 
Universalist, presided over that of Jerusalem. In 
the West, Ambrose governed the churches of Milan, 
and by his astonishing influence controlled the civil as 
well as the religious concerns of Italy and Gaul. Of 
a multitude of ecclesiastical writers who flourished at 
this time we may here mention only three : the 
learned Jerome, whose fame had already filled the 
world ; young Chrysostom, the prince of Christian 
orators, whose renown began to extend beyond the 
sphere of his labors in the great city of Antioch ; and 
the immortal Augustine, who was rising into notice, 
amidst his native Numidia in Africa. Of the authors 
formerly mentioned, Titus of Bostra and Basil the 
Great had long been dead ; Gregory Nazianzen expired 
in his native village, about two years before ; Didy- 



192 



THE AXCIENT HISTORY 



mus still survived, at Alexandria, but in extreme old 
age ; and Gregory Nyssen had approached within 
three or four years the close of his life. Jerome con- 
tinued at his cell in Bethlehem ; Evagrius Ponticus 
and Palladius of Gallatia were among the monasteries 
of Mtria ; and Isidorus was at Alexandria, under 
the patronage of the Archbishop Theophilus. 

The long struggle between the Consubstantialists 
and the Arians had now ceased throughout the 
civilized world. The latter, driven from all their 
numerous churches in the East, by the vigorous and 
unsparing persecution of Theodosius the Great, and 
from those in the West, by the imperial authority of 
Gratian, had taken refuge among the barbarous 
nations of Goths and Yandals. The schismatical sects 
were, in a measure, suppressed ; and for a moment 
the weapons of controversy and violence, which the 
orthodox had so long wielded, seemed to hang useless 
in their hands. But an occasion for their use soon 
occurred, among themselves, in a personal conten- 
tion, obscure and trifling at first, which swelled and 
extended, by degrees, till it agitated the whole 
church. 

Epiphanius, visiting Jerusalem, this year, 1 and 
preaching there before a large concourse in the 
cathedral church, made an insidious attack upon John 
the bishop, by inveighing against Origen, whom the 
latter was known to admire. He reproached that 

1 The dates in this contention with, the Origenists, down to the year 397, I have 
endeavored, with some care, to calculate from Martianay's chronological notes 
prefixed to the fourth torn, of his edition of Jerome, and from several expressions 
found in Epist. xxxiii. and xxxviii., Hieronymi Opp., torn, iv., part ii. Some of 
these dates have manifestly "been mistaken hy Huet, Du Pin, Fleury, etc. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



193 



ancient father, in his wonted strain, as the parent of 
Arianism and other heresies ; till at length John sent 
his archdeacon, in view of the whole assembly, to 
request him to forbear. A procession followed to 
the place of our Saviour's crucifixion ; and on the 
way the two prelates betrayed some indications of 
resentment on the one hand, and of disregard on the 
other. After their return, and while the people still 
waited, John himself addressed them ; and, as many 
opposers of the Origenists actually attributed to the 
Deity a body like our own, he declaimed vehemently 
against that gross error, in order to reflect the 
suspicion of it upon Epiphanius. But the latter ^ 
immediately standing up, joined his brother in severely 
reprobating the notion; then, turning suddenly, 
called upon the assembly to condemn likewise the 
perverse dogmas of Origen ; and he even besought 
and warned John himself to avoid them. This un- 
disguised attack produced some sensation among the 
people, and left, it seems, an indelible impression on 
the minds of both the bishops. 1 

A year or two afterwards, Epiphanius. came again 
into Palestine, and spent a while at a 

L a. D. 393. 

monastery he had founded in his native 
village, about twenty miles west of Jerusalem. 
Though the natural simplicity of the Bishop of Cyprus 
may, perhaps, forbid the suspicion of intentional 
wrong, yet his inconsiderate officiousness and his 
childish vanity, which led him sometimes to overlook 
the prescribed rights of others, gave just occasion for 



1 Hieronymi, Epist. xxxviii. vel. 61, torn, iv., part ii., pp. 312, 313, edit. Martia- 
nay; and Epiphanii, Epist. ad Johannem Hierssolym, in eodem torn., p. 824. 



194 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



the apprehensions of John, 1 that this visit would be 
marked with some act of intrusion. No sooner had 
Paulinianus, the brother of Jerome, arrived on busi- 
ness from Bethlehem, than Epiphanius, who had long 
sought the opportunity, ordered him to be seized, 
stopped his mouth to prevent his refusal, and then, 
by force, made him deacon, — a mode of procedure 
not very unfrequent in that age. A few days after- 
ward he seized him again, during the services of the 
monastery, and with the same violence imposed on 
him the more sacred ordination of presbyter. This 
official act, performed by Epiphanius out of his own 
jurisdiction, and in the neighborhood, if not within 
the diocess, of Jerusalem, highly exasperated John; 
who complained angrily of the insult he had suffered 
in the ordination of one of his monks of Bethlehem 
without his knowledge and permission. An unfounded 
report also reached his ears that Epiphanius was in 
the habit of abusing him in his public prayers. The 
pilgrims who resorted to the Holy City heard, and 
on their return probably circulated, his complaints 
and invectives ; and he at length threatened openly to 
send letters to the churches of the East and West, 
and thus publish his wrongs to the world. 2 

The news of the disturbance he had left behind him 
in Palestine soon reached Epiphanius, at 
Cyprus; and he at length wrote to John, 
endeavoring to excuse his ordination of Paulinianus, 
by alleging a practice among the bishops of his island 

1 Epiphanii, Epi&t, ad Johan., p. 823. 

2 Epiphanii, Epist. ad. Johan, p. 823; and Hieronymi, Epist. xxxix., vel. 62, p. 
337. 



OF UlSTIYERS AXJSM . 



195 



to officiate, on similar occasions, without regard to 
each other's jurisdictions. He declared, however, 
that he well knew that John's wrath arose, not from 
this ordination, but from the old reproof for Ori- 
genism ; and, earnestly beseeching him to save him- 
self from the "untoward generation of heretics," he 
proceeded to enumerate the several errors of Ori- 
gen. This catalogue, though nearly the same he 
had published eighteen years before, is distinguished 
for containing the first censure, on record, against 
Universalism. "1. Who among the Catholics," said 
he, "and such as adorn their faith with good works, 
can hear, with an undisturbed mind, the doctrine of 
Origen, or believe that notorious declaration of his, 
The Son cannot behold the Father, nor the Holy 
Ghost the Son/ 2. TVTto can endure him, when he 
says that souls were originally angels in heaven, 
but cast down into this world, after sinning in the 
celestial state, and imprisoned here in bodies, as in 
sepulchres, in order to punish them for their former 
transgressions ! so that the bodies of believers are not 
the temple of Christ, but the prisons of the damned. 
3. That also which he strove to establish I know not 
whether to laugh or grieve at. Origen, the renowned 
doctor, dared to teach that the devil is again to become 
what he originally was, — to return to his former dig- 
nity, and to enter the kingdom of heaven ! Oh, wick- 
edness ! who is so mad and stupid as to believe that 
holy John Baptist, and Peter, and John the Apostle 
and Evangelist, and that Isaiah also, and Jeremiah, 
and the rest of the prophets, are to become fellow- 
heirs with the devil in the kingdom of heaven ! 4. I 



196 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



pass over his frivolous explanation of the coats of 
skins ; with what labor, with how many arguments, 
he strove to make us believe that those coats were 
human bodies ! Among other things, he asks, Was 
God a leather-dresser, that he should take the shins of 
animals and fit them into coats for Adam and Eve 9 
Therefore it is manifest, says Origen, that it is spoken 
of our bodies. 5. Who can patiently bear with him 
while he denies the resurrection of this flesh ? as he 
manifestly does in his explanations of the first psalm, 
and in many other places. 6. Or who can endure his 
notion that paradise, or the garden of Eden, was in 
the third heaven ! thus transferring it from the earth 
to the skies, and, by an allegorical interpretation, 
representing its trees to be angelic powers ! 7. Who 
but must instantly reject and condemn his delusions, 
that those waters above the firmament, mentioned in 
Genesis, are not waters, but certain celestial spirits ; 
and that those under the firmament are demons ! 
Why, then, do we read that in the deluge the win- 
dows of heaven were opened, and the waters of the 
flood descended? Oh, the madness and stupidity of 
men who have neglected what is said in Proverbs, 
My -son, hear the word of thy father, and forsake not 
the law of thy mother! 8. I do not attempt to dispute 
against all his errors ; they are innumerable ; but 
among other things he even dared to say that Adam 
lost the image of God ! when there is not one passage 
of Scripture that intimates it. If, indeed, that were 
the case, then would all things in the world never 
have been made subject to Adam's posterity, the human 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



197 



race, as James the apostle teaches." 1 Such are the 
particulars that Epiphauius selected for special repre- 
hension. He again exhorted John, as his own son, 
to abstain from the heresy; and lamented that so 
many of their brethren had been already made " food 
for the devil." 

We have said that in this passage occurs the first 
censure which is to be found in all antiquity against 
the doctrine of Universalism. We must remark, 
however, that, even here, the censure falls, as the 
reader may perceive, not on the doctrine of the salva- 
tion of all mankind, but on that of the salvation of 
the devil. This distinction, though it may seem cap- 
tious, is of some consequence to an accurate under- 
standing of subsequent occurrences. 

With the Letter to John, Epiphauius sent others, 
on the same subject, to the Bishops of Palestine ; 2 
and, as copies of the former as well as of the lattei 
were freely circulated through the province, the mat- 
ter soon awakened general interest. 3 Many of the 
people, many of the clergy, seem to have adhered to 
John; and Eufinus and Melania espoused his cause, 
as did also Palladius of Galatia, 4 who had lately 
arrived from Nitria. But others, especially the monk? 
of Bethlehem, took up for Epiphanius, withdrew from 

1 Epiphanii Epist. ad Johannem, inter Hieronymi Opp., torn, iv., part ii., edit. 
Martianay. I give a faithful translation of Epiphanius's Catalogue of Origen's 
errors ; but I have inserted the figures between the several particulars ; omitted 
three uninteresting, and to most readers unintelligible arguments which in the 
original stood between the 2d and 3d, the 4th and 5th, and the 6th and 7th errors; 
and passed over the exhortation which occurred between the 7th and 8th. 

2 Hieronymi, Epist. xxxviii. adv. Johan. Hierosol., p. 334. 

3 Hieron., Epist. xxxiii. vel. 101, ad Pammach. p. 248. 
* Epiphanii, Epist. ad Johan., pp. 827, 829. 



1D8 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



the communion of their accused bishop/ and in return, 
suffered from him, it appears, some condemnatory 
sentence for their refractory procedure. 2 

Jerome, the admirer and imitator of Origen, we 
should expect, of course, to discover among his bish- 
op's adherents ; but two or three circumstances cou- 
spired to engage him on the opposite side. The 
strongest affections of nature inclined him to defend 
the ordination of his own brother ; some personal 
differences he had formerly had with the professed 
Origenists, both at Rome and Mtria, were, perhaps, 
remembered with resentment ; and his pride of learn- 
ing, his haughty and petulant spirit, must have made 
him restless under the immediate government of an 
ecclesiastical superior, who was his junior in age, and 
whom he might justly regard as far his inferior in 
talents and acquirements. He joined the party of 
Epiphanius, or perhaps gathered it, and translated the 
Letter to John, for the private use of such monks as 
were acquainted only with the Latin language. His 
translation, though intended only for confi- 

A. D. 395. „ ... , 

dential circulation, found its way, the next 
year, 3 to Jerusalem ; and it was immediately censured 
by Eufinus as unfaithful to the honorable appellations 
bestowed, in the original, upon his bishop. From 
this moment we discover an open breach in the early 
and long-cherished affection of the two friends. Je- 
rome, who could not bear reproof, defended himself 
and resented the criticism with his accustomed abuse, 
by calling its author a pseudo-monk. 4 

1 Hieron., Epist. adv. Johan. xxxviii., p. 308. 

2 Ditto, and p. 333, and Epist. xxxix. ad Theophiluro, p. 338, etc. 
8 Hieron., Epist. xxxiii., p. 248. 

4 Ditto. 



OF UMVERSALISM. 



199 



The noise of the quarrel in Palestine had reached 
Alexandria; and Isidorus, the aged patron of Ori- 
genism, felt himself called upon to encourage his 
brethren. Kelying with a misplaced confidence on 
the integrity of his former friends, he addressed a 
letter to one Vincentius, a presbyter and monk at 
Bethlehem, whom he had probably seen about ten 
years before in company with Jerome in Egypt. He 
exhorted him to stand firm on the rock of faith, nor 
be terrified by the threats of the adversaries. "I my- 
self," added he, " shall soon come to Jerusalem, and 
the band of enemies shall be dispersed, who, always 
resisting the faith of the church, attempt now to dis- 
turb the minds of the simpler sort." 1 But Vincen- 
tius, it seems, had already followed the example of his 
master Jerome, in siding with Epiphanius ; and this 
letter accordingly proved a providential warning in- 
stead of an encouragement. 

The increasing contention, which attracted the no- 
tice of foreign Christians, alarmed the friends of tran- 
quillity at home. Archelaus, one of the civil officer? 
of the province, was vainly endeavoring to allay the 
disturbance. He invited both parties to a mutual 
conference, in which they should agree upon a com- 
mon declaration of faith ; but when the day arrived 
John was absent on some parochial duty ; and he 
never appeared, though the council, in reply to his 
excuse, offered to wait his convenience, at least for a 
few days. 2 

Two months afterwards a deputation arrived, not 

1 Hieron., Epist. xxxviii., p. 330. 
* Ditto, pp. 331, 332. 



200 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



unexpectedly, from Theopkilus, the powerful and 
aspiring Archbishop of Egypt; who, either on the 
request of John, or at his own suggestion, gladly 
embraced this opportunity to extend his influence over 
the foreign churches of Palestine. Isidorus himself 
was entrusted with the commission, and as deputy 
brought letters from the Alexandrian primate to John 
and Jerome, the respective heads of the contending 
parties. But a professed and zealous Origenist was 
much better qualified to inflame than to compose a 
difficulty in which his favorite doctrine was involved ; 
and on his arrival his subserviency to the Bishop of 
Jerusalem was so manifest, that Jerome refused, with 
reason, his partial mediation. 1 

Frustrated in the special object of his mission, 
Isidorus devoted himself exclusively to the assistance 
of John. The letter of Epiphanius had now 
lain unanswered before the public nearly 
two years ; and the bishop availed himself of his 
friend's assistance to produce a Reply. It was ad- 
dressed, in the name of John, to Theophilus at Alex- 
andria, to whose decision it appealed. The author, 
or authors, related the history of the difficulty, com- 
plained of the ordination of Paulinianus, inveighed 
against Jerome, and charged him with inconsistency 
in reproaching Origen, whom he had translated and 
extolled ; and they finally proceeded to an examina- 
tion of the errors which Epiphanius had enumerated, 
and, by implication, charged against John. Out of 
the eight, however, the writers answered to three 
only : to the first, concerning the Trinity ; to the sec- 

1 Hieron., Epist, xxxviii., pp. 330, 331. 



OF universalis:,!. 



201 



ond, concerning pre-existence ; and to the fifth, con- 
cerning the resurrection. On these three points, they 
explained themselves favorably, 1 or absolutely rejected 
the errors alleged ; but, if we may rely on the minute 
account, or on the confident judgment of their preju- 
diced adversary, Jerome, they felt unprepared to dis- 
claim the other five particulars in the catalogue. 
That they cautiously avoided any notice of them is 
indubitable ; and we may adopt the very natural con- 
clusion that they really held what they so warily 
passed over, the salvation of the devil as well as the 
allegorical expositions of Origen. 2 With this Reply 
to Ejpiphanius , or Apology to Theojphilus, Isidorus 
departed for Alexandria ; and he probably assisted in 
spreading copies of it through the churches. 

These copies were extensively dispersed, and soon 
reached Italy and Rome, where the Letter of 
Epiphanius had been already circulated. Here, as in 
other places, the people Avere variously affected ; 
some inclined to one party, some to the other ; and 
one of Jerome's correspondents wrote to him on the 
perplexities which the subject had occasioned, re- 
questing a full statement of the affair. The com- 
munication of intelligence through a distance of nearly 
five hundred leagues must have been dilatory and 
tedious ; and Jerome seems to have taken the earliest 
opportunity, on receipt of the request, to 
compose his bitter and Sarcastic Answer 

1 According to Jerome (Epist. xxxviii.), they prevaricated on these points; but 
I think it evident from his own account that they fully denied that of pre-existence. 

2 Hieron., Epist. xxxviii., adv. Johan. Hierosolym. Their rejection of the error 
concerning pre-existence. would, however, involve a denial of those concerning the 
coats of skins, and the garden of Eden. John's Apology to Theophilus is lost ; 
and we can judge of its contents only from Jerome's account. 



202 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



to John's Apology. He addressed it, for the most 
part, directly to John himself; but it was published 
in the form of a letter to his inquiring friend at 
Eome. The origin of the quarrel, the measures that 
had been adopted for a reconciliation, the answers 
which John had given to the three errors, and his 
silence with regard to the rest, were related and 
discussed at considerable length ; and Jerome con- 
cluded, by defending his own party from his bishop's 
accusations, and by retorting on him the charge of 
disturbing the church. 1 

He had just received a letter from Theophilus, 
exhorting the monks to peace and reconciliation with 
their bishop. It was an object of much importance 
to secure the assistance, or at least the neutrality, of 
this wordly minded but active and influential prelate, 
who had hitherto appeared to favor the cause of John. 
Jerome immediately replied to him in a flattering 
and insinuating strain ; and declared that, agreeably 
to his recommendation, he himself was sincerely for 
peace ; for such peace, however, as would in reality, 
be cordial, — for the peace of Christ ; intimating at the 
same time that there never could be hearty concord 
between the faithful and the heretics. He embraced 
this opportunity, likewise, to lay before Theophilus a 
history of the disturbance, to defend the ordination 
of his brother, and to exonerate himself from that 
charge of inconsistency which John had urged against 
him for having translated the works of Origen that he 
now condemned. 2 



1 Hieron., Epist. xxxviii. 

2 Hieron., Epist. xxxix. ad Theophilum. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 



203 



Perhaps no man in that age possessed means 
more efficient for diffusing his prejudices, than Jerome. 
From his narrow and uncouth cell at Bethlehem, he 
could easily excite disaffection or distrust in the 
remotest parts of Christendom. He maintained an 
extensive correspondence ; the fame of his knowledge 
procured him a welcome introduction wherever he 
sought assistance : and his penetrating discernment 
readily distinguished those who would prove most 
useful as coadjutors. The celebrated Augustine, now 
Bishop of Hippo in Africa, a hundred and fifty miles 
west of Carthage, was too eminent for him to over- 
look ; and he had already addressed him a letter, with 
the information that Origen's works abounded with 
errors. 1 But that honest and independent man could 
never be engaged in his violent measures, though he 
was, in reality, much farther from Origen's sentiments 
than Jerome himself. 

Meanwhile Rufinus had bidden a final adieu to his 
friends in Palestine, and had sailed, in company 
with his patroness, for his native Italy. But, before 
his departure, a seeming reconciliation was effected 
between him and Jerome ; and in their last interview 
they pledged themselves to refrain from their mutual 
hostilities. 2 

When he arrived with Melania at Rome, intent on 
diffusing his sentiments and partialities, and urged by 
Macarius, a civil officer of the city, he translated into 
Latin the first book of Pamphilus's and Eusebius's 
Apology for Origen, together with Origen's famous 



1 Huet. Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 4, sect, i., § 14. 

2 Hieron., Epist. xlii., vel. 66, ad Rufinum, p. 348. 



204 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



books Of Principles, and soon published them for 
the benefit of the western Christians. To these works 
he affixed Prefaces and a Tract of his own; in 
which he apprised the public that, in the books Of 
Principles, he had omitted or amended the many 
erroneous representations concerning the Trinity, 
which he supposed had been inserted or corrupted by 
the heretics. The other notions, he intimates, were 
preserved unaltered. 1 Unhappily, however, he could 
not suppress a secret personal resentment, but em- 
braced this opportunity to allude to a certain accom- 
plished brother, who had ranked Origen next to the 
apostles, and whose commendations of him had 
excited a general desire to obtain his works ; who 
had already published in Latin above seventy of his 
Homilies, and who had promised to translate still 
more. This brother was, of course, Jerome ; and the 
allusion was intended to remind the few of his incon- 
stancy, and to imply to the rest that he still continued, 
as he once had been, a follower of Origen. Nor 
did Eufinus stop here ; his smothered enmity broke 
out in a remark, that there were authors who, having . 
stolen all their works out of Origen, afterwards re- 
proached their master, in order to conceal their own 
plagiarisms, by deterring the world from reading the 
original. 2 These sly insinuations, though veiled 
under the language of respect and esteem, could not 
escape the notice, nor elude the understanding, of 
Jerome's western friends ; and it was easily foreseen 
that the reconciliation, so lately confirmed in Pales- 

1 Rufini Praefat. in lib. Peri Archon, inter Origenis Opp., torn, i., edit. Delarue. 

2 Ditto, and Rufini, lib. De Adulterat. Origenis Librorum. 



OF maVERSALISM. 



205 



tine, must soon share the common fate of attempts at 
renewing old friendships when once violated with 
insult. 

The hooks Of Principles, though they contained, 
besides Universalism, the doctrine of pre-existence 
and other novel opinions, were readily 
received by many at Rome, and attached 
a number of priests, monks, and common Christians to 
Origen. 1 Others, however, rose in opposition; and 
Marcella, a lady of influence, with whom Jerome 
maintained a correspondence, appears to have taken 
the lead in fixing the stigma of heresy on the gather- 
ing party of Origenists. Assisted by Vincentius, who 
had returned from Bethlehem, and seconded by the 
numerous and powerful friends of Jerome, she soon 
succeeded in rousing and directing the public indig- 
nation. 2 It is probable, however, that even Jerome's 
own friends did not consider the books Of Principles 
very heretical, as they stood in the translation ; 3 and 
the more moderate and impartial discovered nothing 
alarming in the late publications, if we may judge 
from the conduct of Pope Siricius. It was one of the 
last acts of his life to grant letters of recommenda- 
tion to Eufinus, who was preparing to proceed, after 
an absence of twenty-five years, to his native city of 
Aquileia. 4 

1 Hieron., Epist. xcvi., vel. 16 ad Prineipium, p. 782. 

2 Ditto. 

3 Jerome's friends, Fammachius and Oceaims (Epist. xl., vel. 64). inter Hiero- 
nymi (Opp., torn, iv.) say they have found in Rufinus's translation of the hooks Of 
Principles, many things not so very orthodox; still they suspect that Eufinus had 
omitted whatever would more plainly expose Origen's impiety; and therefore 
they request Jerome to send them a correct translation. 

4 Huet. Origenwu lib. ii., cap. 4., sect, i., § 16. 



206 THE ANCIENT HISTORY 

Jerome at length received, with surprise, an account 
sent from Italy, of the artful procedure 

A. D. 398—399. _ .. . 

oi Kunnus ; but, with a moderation un- 
usual for him, he wrote to his false friend in terms of 
manly and candid expostulation, entreating him, as a 
brother, to offer no more abuse, and to regard their 
parting conciliation. 1 As he was, -however, accused 
of inconsistency in his treatment of Origen, not by 
Eufinus alone, but by many others at Rome, at 
Alexandria, and indeed throughout Christendom, he 
composed a formal explanation of the praises he had 
formerly bestowed upon that father, and sent it to his 
Roman friends. "I have, indeed, commended him," 
said he, "as an able interpreter, but not as a correct 
dogmatist; I have admired his genius, without ap- 
proving his doctrine. Havel ever adopted his detest- 
able representations concerning the Trinity, or con- 
cerning the resurrection ? Have I not, on the contrary, 
carefully omitted them in my translations ? If people 
would know my sentiments, let them read my Com- 
mentaries on Ephesians, and on Ecclesiastes, where I 
have uniformly contradicted his opinions. I certainly 
never followed his notions ; or if I have, yet now I 
repent. And let others imitate this my example. 
Let us all be converted to God. Let us not wait the 
repentance of the devil ; for vain is the presumption 
that extends into the abyss of hell. It is in this 
world that life must be sought or lost." 2 In the 
conclusion, he exposed the absurdity of Rufinus's 
pretence that Origen's works had been interpolated ; 



1 Hieron., Epist. xlii. 

2 Hieron., Epist. xli., vel. 65, ad Pammach. et Oceanum, p. 345. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM. 



207 



and with a .daring assurance denied that the Apology 
for Origen was written by Painphilns. At the same 
time, he also sent to Rome, at the request of his 
friends, an accurate version of the books Of Prin- 
ciples, in order, as he said, to expose the mistransla- 
tions of his rival. 1 

By the passage just quoted from his Defence, we 
discover that he was now disposed to deny a restora- 
tion from hell, which he had formerly asserted. Still 
it appears he did not account that notion one of the 
heinous, alarming errors in question, as is manifest 
from his referring to his Commentaries on Ephesians 
in proof that he had uniformly contradicted them ; 
for those Commentaries, though they opposed some 
other tenets ascribed to Origen, abounded, as we have 
seen, with the fullest declarations of Universalism. 
What he now treated as the great, detestable errors of 
his master may be learned from the following passage 
in the same Defence: "I acknowledge that Origen 
erred in certain things ; that his opinion was wrong 
concerning the Son, and worse concerning the Holy 
Ghost ; that he impiously supposed that our souls 
fell from heaven ; that he acknowledged the resur- 
rection only in words, denying it in reality; and 
that he held that in future ages, after one univer- 
sal restitution, Gabriel would at length become 
what the devil now is, Paul what -Caiaphas, and 
virgins what prostitutes are. 2 When you have re- 

1 Hieron.. Epist. xli., vel. 65 ad Pammach. et Ocoanum, p. 348. 

2 — et post multa saecula atque unam omnium restitutionem, idipsum fore Gabri- 
elem quod Diabolum, Paulum quod Caiapham, virgines quod prostibulas." In his 
Epist. xxxvi. acl Vigilantium, written about this time, Jerome acknowledges that 
Origen "erred concerning the state of the soul [that is, pre-existence], and the 



208 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



jected these errors, you may read him with 
safety. 1 

Jerome and Epiphanius now began to discover, in 
the disposition of the Alexandrian bishop, a favora- 
ble change, which they had long sought to procure. 
Flattery and exhortation had been spent upon him in 
vain; he had still inclined to the side of John. But, 
what no persuasion could effect, self-interest and re- 
venge speedily accomplished. Theophilus had been, 
for some time, involved in a contention with his 
Egyptian monks, the smaller, more ignorant, and 
therefore the more turbulent part of whom, hated the 
name of Origen, because his doctrine was so directly 
opposed to their own gross notion that the Deity 
possessed a body like man's. 2 These Anthropomor- 
phites, so called, were roused to open insurrection by 
one of their bishop's late addresses, in which he had 
freely reproached their error ; and, assembling from 
various parts of Egypt, they crowded to Alexandria 
with the intention of murdering him. To save his 
life, Theophilus deceived the fierce assailants into a 
persuasion that he himself was converted to their 
belief ; and promising, at their instance, to condemn 
the works of their great adversary, Origen, he dis- 
missed them in peace. Meanwhile, the aged Isiclo- 

repentance of the devil ; and what is of more importance than these, that the Bon 
of God and the Holy Ghost, he pronounced, in his Commentaries on Isaiah, to he 
Seraphim." p. 276. Afterwards, Jerome reproaches Vigilantius for having mis- 
interpreted the vision of the mountain, in Daniel ii., and insultingly tells him to 
repent " if, indeed, this impiety can be forgiven you; and then you may obtain 
pardon when, according to the error of Origen, the devil shall obtain it; who was 
never guilty of worse blasphemy than yours." p. 278. 

1 Hieron., Epist. xli. p. 345. 

2 Socratis Hist. Eccl., lib. vi.. cap. 7. 



OF UNIVERSALIS^!. 



209 



rus, whom he had always honored, and whom he had 
lately attempted to place in the vacant bishopric of 
Constantinople, had incurred his dangerous displeas- 
ure, by refusing to countenance his unjust and rapa- 
cious schemes. Some of the Origenist monks of 
Nitria, also, where Isidorus sought and obtained 
refuge, fell under his resentment. Theophilus in- 
vaded their quiet retreat, seized and tortured those 
who refused to deliver up Isidorus, burnt their monas- 
teries, and, bethinking himself of an easier way to 
satiate his baffled vengeance, denounced them to the 
fierce Anthropomorphites as Origenists. Sacrificing 
everything to his wrath, he now determined to fulfil 
his late extorted promise ; and, siding with the more 
dilatory Jerome and Epiphanius, he proceeded to the 
hazardous measure of en^ao-ins: the church in his 
quarrel. Accordingly, he called a synod of 
the neighboring bishops at Alexandria, and 
procured a decree, remarkable for being the first of 
its kind, condemning Origen, and anathematizing all 
who should approve his works. He dared not arraign 
the whole multitude of offenders ; but three of them, 
called the tall brethren, were condemned by name, un- 
der the pretence of their holding false doctrines, 
though neither they nor any of their party were pres- 
ent. Theophilus then contrived to obtain, from the 
Governor of Egypt, authority to drive the excommuni- 
cated out of the province ; and, taking a band of sol- 
diers, inarched again for the famous retreat of the 
Origenists. 1 

1 In the account of Theophilus, I follow Huet (Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 4, sect, ii., 
§§ 1, 2, 3), and Fleury (Eccl. Hist., hook xxi., chap. 10, 12). 



210 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



The cells and monasteries' of Mtria clustered along 
two parallel but distant chains of naked hills, and 
were thinly scattered, perhaps, in the deep and arid 
waste that lay between. From the summits of the 
north-eastern ridge the spectator surveyed, with se- 
cret horror, an inanimate world of eternal barrenness 
and solitude glowing beneath the scorching firmament, 
In whatever direction he turned, the great Desert of 
Libya stretched away, over uneven plains and preci- 
pices, to the verge of the horizon. To the south- 
west, at the distance of ten or a dozen miles, stood 
the opposite ridge ; nearer lay before him the wide 
valley of sand, furrowed through with deep gorges, 
and extending far off to the north-west and south-east ; 
and below him, at the foot of the precipices on which 
he stood, his eyes rested on the small- crusted lakes 
of natron, surrounded by shrubs and reeds, the only 
contrast to the universal desolation. 1 All was mo- 
tionless silence ; except when the beasts and birds 
of the desert came to allay their burning thirst, or 
when the monks swarmed forth from their cells at the 
appointed hours of social devotion. 

Into this abode of mortification and religious mus- 
ing, Theophilus entered, with his troop, in the dead 
of night, and drove away the bishop of the mountain ; 
but unable to discover his intended victims, who 
had been secreted, he burnt their cells, pillaged the 
monasteries, and then set out on his retreat. Re- 
turned to Alexandria, he encountered a general indig- 
nation and horror, which the news of his cruelty and 
sacrilege soon roused. The Origenists, however, took 

1 Sonnini's Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt, chap. 27, 28, 29. 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



211 



warning, and fled to other countries. Isidorus and 
about three hundred of his brethren sought the pro- 
tection of John, in Palestine, and retired, the larger 
part of them, to the palm-groves around Sc3 7 thopolis, 
nearly seventy miles northward from Jerusalem. But 
Theophilus, with the exterminating zeal of a true foe, 
wrote immediately to the bishops of that province, 
forgiving, on the ground of ignorance, their first 
reception of the condemned, but requiring them, for 
the future, to exclude the refugees from every 
church. It is mortifying to relate, that John of 
Jerusalem was overcome by "this sudden change in the 
powerful patron to whom he had referred his cause ; 
and that he appears to have wanted the resolution to 
defend his guests, and the courage to disobey the 
Egyptian primate's orders. 1 

Great were the mutual congratulations of Theophi- 
lus, Epiphanius, and Jerome, on these decisive meas- 
ures. They informed each other, in their bombastic 
letters, that the snake of Origenism was now severed 
and disembowelled by the evangelical sword ; that the 
host of Amalek was destroyed, and the banner of the 
cross erected on the altars of the Alexandrian church. 
Theophilus sent letters to Kome, to Cyprus, and to 
Constantinople, proclaiming his late measures, and 
exhorting the respective bishops to follow his ex- 
ample. Accordingly, Anastasius, the new Pope, who 
had succeeded Siricius at Rome, readily 

' J A. D. 400. 

gratified the numerous partisans of Jerome 

in that city, by issuing a decree which was received 

iHuetii Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 4, sect, ii., § 3; Fleury's Eccl. Hist, book xxi., 
chap. 12. 



212 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



through all the West, condemning the works of 
Origen ; and Epiphanius, soon afterwards, convened 
a synod of his bishops in Cyprus, and procured from 
them a like sentence. But Chrysostom, who now 
held the episcopal chair of Constantinople, delayed 
all notice of the Egyptian prelate's recommendation, 1 
and thereby involved himself in a scene of troubles 
that closed only with his life. 

We have passed, with barely a hasty notice, over 
the decree of the Roman pontiff, and the two synods 
of Alexandria and Cyprus, against Origen and his 
works. They constitute, however, an important 
event in the history of Universalism, being the first 
public acts of the church which nt all affected that 
sentiment ; and it is worth the while to pause and 
ascertain the particular points of doctrine which were 
then condemned. All the formal records of those 
proceedings have long since perished ; but, from 
cotemporary authority, we learn that the tenet which 
gave most offence in the Alexandrian synod was this : 
"That as Christ was crucified in our world for the 
redemption of mankind, so he would taste death, in 
the eternal state, for the salvation of the devil." 1 
This two-fold death of Christ, though sometimes 
intimated by Origen, was by no means one of his 
fixed opinions ; and it can have been only from an 
ungenerous zeal to take the utmost" advantage of 
his suggestions, that it was inserted in the present 
charge. It also appears, that in addition to this 

1 Huet. Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 4, sect, ii., § 5, et sect, i., § 19. 

2 Sulpitii Severi, Dialog, i., cap. 3. I quote from Gr. Bulli Defens. Fid. Nicsenae, 
cap. ix., § 23. 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



213 



particular his doctrine of " the salvation of the devil 
and his angels " was expressly condemned, in some of 
these public decrees, either at Alexandria, Cyprus, or 
Rome ; and likewise another notion, which cannot, 
with so much justice, be ascribed to him, "that in the 
distant ages of eternity, the blessed in heaven will, by 
degrees, relapse into sin, and descend into the regions 
of woe, while, on the other hand, the damned will 
rise to the mansions of purity and joy ; thus constitut- 
ing, by perpetual revolutions, a ceaseless alternation 
of happiness and misery." 1 These, we are informed, 
were the principal errors now condemned ; and they 
were probably alleged to justify the sentence which 
was passed, forbidding his works to be read, and 
placing him on the list of heretics. But, what is 
remarkable, it is certain that his doctrine of the sal- 
vation of all mankind was not condemned, and that 
some of the orthodox continued to avow it with im- 
punity. 2 

The prohibition of his writings, and the angry 
indignity with which his name was treated, were 
regarded by the more dispassionate, throughout all 
Christendom, as unnecessarily severe ; but, as the 
authoritative acts had been regularly passed, the or- 
thodox generally acquiesced, though with reluctance, 
reserve, and some exceptions. 3 

1 Augustinus De Civ. Dei, lib. xxi., cap. 17. 

2 Augustine (Dc Civitate Dei, lib. xxi., cap. 17), about twenty years after-wards, 
reasons with tbose merciful brethren among the orthodox who held the salvation 
of all mankind. He says they urged the superior benevolence of their doctrine as 
a proof of its truth ; and he exposes their inconsistency in using this argument, 
by daring them to extend it. like Origen, to the salvation of the devil and his an- 
gels. For this, adds he, the church has condemned him ; and they, of course, 
dare not go to the same extremity. 

3 Huet. Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 4. sect, ii., §§ 4, 12. Chrysostom, Augustine, 



214 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



When the persecuted Origenists who had fled to 
Palestine from the rage of Theophilus, 
learned that he had sent a deputation 
against them to Constantinople, they likewise pro- 
ceeded thither to defend themselves, and to seek an 
asylum under the strong protection of the bishop of 
that city, the celebrated Chrysostom. Fifty aged 
men, among whom were Isidorus and the three tall 
brethren, came and presented themselves before him ; 
and such was the wretchedness of their appearance 
that Chrysostom, it is said, melted into tears at the 
sight. He gave them the desired protection, till their 
cause should be heard ; and wrote immediately to 
Theophilus in their behalf. But his interference was 
haughtily resented, and drew upon him a long and 
fierce persecution, the particulars of which have no 
direct relation to the subject of this history. We 
may only mention, that the Origenists, having 
formally disavowed all heretical doctrines, continued 
to enjoy his countenance, as well as that of the 
Empress Eudoxia ; and were thus emboldened to 
accuse their bishop before the tribunal of the 
Emperor Arcadius. Upon* this, Epiphanius hastened 
from Cyprus to Constantinople ; and, awhile after- 
wards, the undaunted Theophilus arrived, in obedi- 
ence to the imperial summons, attended, however, 
by a host of bishops from Egypt. Their vengeance 
was directed not so much against the Origenists as 
against Chrysostom. That ready engine of mischief, 
a synod, was formed ; but when the members were 



Sulpitius Severus, Vincentius Lirinensis, etc., were favorably disposed towards 
the memory, though not the doctrine of Origen. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



215 



gathered, they immediately separated in two bodies, 
and met in different places ; those who hated the 
Bishop of Constantinople, in the suburbs ; and those 
who favored him, in the city. Among his friends, 
Palladius of Galatia, now Bishop of Helenopolis in 
Bithynia, seems to have taken a distinguished part ; 
and could a majority have availed against intrigue and 
power, Chrysostom had triumphed. But he sunk, at 
length, with all his influence, under the combined 
assaults of the Alexandrian party, the rage of the 
insulted Empress Eudoxia, and the obsequious edicts 
of the timid Arcadius ; and in the year 403 he was 
wickedly deposed and banished, together with some 
of his adherents. But, in the mean time, the relent- 
ing Epiphanius had died on his voyage back to 
Cyprus ; and Isidorus and the three tall brethren had 
closed their lives, in the city, amidst the cruel storm 
which their great and injured patron had brought 
upon himself. The objects of his hatred being thus re- 
moved, Theophilus was easily reconciled to the rest of 
the Origenists, and finally received them into his favor. 1 
The Alexandrian bishop had not confined his exer- 
tions, all this time, to the city of Con- 
stantinople. While his party was man- 
aging his contest there, he himself was often engaged 
at home, rousing the indignation of the Egyptian 
Christians against Origen's name and doctrine. It was 
his practice to publish, annually, a General or Paschal 
JEpistle to his churches ; and in that of the year 401, 
his newly adopted zeal gave itself full utterance. He 



1 Huetii Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 4, sect, ii., §§ 11, 12, 13, andFleury'a Eccl. Hist., 
book xxi., chap. 23—32. 



216 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



inveighed with much bitterness against Origen's here- 
sies, which he comprised in the following particulars : 
that the kingdom of Christ would finally end, and the 
devil return to his pristine glory, and become subject 
to the Father; that the blessed in heaven may fall 
away; that Christ is to be crucified in the invisible 
world for the demons and wicked angels ; that the 
bodies of the saints, after the resurrection, will at 
length decay and become extinct ; that the Son is not 
to be addressed in prayer ; that magic is not sinful ; 
and that marriage is dishonorable, being occasioned 
by our guilty connection with the body. 1 

In the next year's Epistle, Theophilus resumed the 
unfinished topic, and entered again upon his conflict 
with the " Hydra of Origenism." The errors he now 
selected as the points of his attack were, that human 
souls pre-existed, but for their transgressions were 
doomed to this world, which was formed for their 
reception; that the sun, moon, and stars are ani- 
mated ; that our fleshly bodies are not to rise ; that 
the dignitaries of the angelic world were not created 
such, but rose from the original equality of souls to 
their present elevations by means of their own self- 
improvement ; that the Holy Ghost does not operate 
on irrational animals ; that the immediate providence 
of God extends only to things in heaven ; that Christ 
is not the supreme God ; that all souls came from one 
common and uniform mass of mind ; that the soul 
which Christ assumed was one with his divine nature, 
just as he is one with the Father ; and that God could 

1 Theophili Paschal, lib. ii. (properly i.) inter Hieronymi Opp., torn, iv., part 
ii. For the date and order of these hooks, see Du Pin, Cave, Flenry, etc 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



217 



govern no more creatures than he has made, so that 
his power is finite. 1 We have another of his annual 
Epistles, written in the year 404. Here, his zeal had 
begun to abate ; but amidst a chaos of general and 
indefinite exhortation, there are some incidental at- 
tacks upon Origen's notion of the condemnation of 
souls to earthly bodies. 2 

These three Epistles were afterwards translated by 
Jerome, for the use of the Latin Christians ; and with 
them several others, which have since perished. 

While thus Theophilus was pursuing his quarrel in 
Constantinople, and at the same time 

* ' . ^ . iiL A.D.400 to404. 

sounding the alarm m .Lgypt, against the 
newly denominated heresy, the storm which had arisen 
in Italy continued without abatement. Soon after the 
passing of the decree, in a. d. 400, against Origen's 
works, Pope Anastasius cited Rufinus to appear be- 
fore him, on a charge of heresy. But the latter, 
instead of leaving his friends at Aquileia, sent to the 
pontiff a formal Apology, or statement of his faith 
and conduct ; professing his hearty assent to the creeds 
of the churches at Rome, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and 
Aquileia ; and declaring his belief in the Trinity, in 
the resurrection of this very flesh, in a future judg- 
ment, and in the endless punishment of the devil, of 
all his angels, and of wicked men, particularly, says 
he, of those who slander their brethren. And who- 
ever denies this, " let eternal fire be his portion, that 
he may feel what he denies." 3 The same doctrine he 



1 Theophili Paschal, lib. i. (properly ii.). 
3 Theophili Paschal, lib. hi. 

3 Eufini ad Anastasium Apologia, inter Hieron. Opp., torn, v., p. 259. 



218 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



also asserted in general terms, but with much explicit- 
ness, in his Treatise on the Apostles' Creed; 1 and we 
have no reason to doubt his sincerity. The Italian 
bishops, it seems, were generally satisfied ; 2 but 
Anastasius, either suspecting dissimulation, or deter- 
mined at all events to crush the obnoxious translator, 
passed upon him the dread sentence of excommunica- 
tion. This was in a. d. 401. The Pope afterwards 
refused, peremptorily, to restore him to fellowship, 
notwithstanding a friendly remonstrance that he re- 
ceived the next year, with much seeming respect, from 
John of Jerusalem. 3 

During all these transactions, Eufinus was solacing 
himself with secret revenge, by circulating in private 
a work which he had composed to defend his own 
conduct, to excuse Origen, but especially to expose 
Jerome. To this production the partial resentment of 
the church has since affixed the hostile name of Invec- 
tive, instead of the original and more peaceful title of 
Apology. Paulinianus, then residing in Italy, con- 
trived to obtain sight of it ; and, having secretly tran- 
scribed copious extracts, sent them to his brother at 
Bethlehem. From these, Jerome had the vexation to 
discover that the Defence he had addressed, a few 
years before, to his friends at Eome, was likely to be 
turned back, with effect, against himself. He saw 
that Eufinus had succeeded in exposing much incon- 
sistency, and some prevarication, in the explanations 
there given concerning his former and present treat- 

1 Rufini Symbolum, inter Hieron. Opp., torn, v., pp. 127—150. N. B. See note 
1, page 176. 

2 Hieron. Apol. adv. Rufin., lib. iii., p. 453. 

3 Huetii Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 4, sect, i., § 20. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM. 



219 



ment of Origen. But, what was more perplexing, a 
fatal advantage had been taken of his favorite Com- 
mentaries on JZphesians and Ecclesiastes. From these 
very works, to which Jerome had expressly referred 
as a clear delineation of his views, Rufinus had now 
selected ample quotations that taught, in the fullest 
manner, the several doctrines of the resurrection of 
aerial instead of fleshly bodies, pre-existence, and 
the universal restoration, not only of mankind, but 
also of the devil and his angels. Particular expres- 
sions had, moreover, been pointed out, which seemed 
to intimate a perpetual rotation of happiness and mis- 
ery, the eventual return of all intellectual creatures 
into one order or grade of being, and the animation 
of those glorious bodies, the sun, the moon, and stars. 
"It is well," said his exulting accuser, "for such as 
you to condemn Origen." 1 

Disturbed, but not dismayed, by this unexpected 
attack, Jerome sat down angrily to the composition 
of his Apology against Rufinus; replying haughtily, 
and sometimes disingenuously, to the numerous 
charges against his conduct, recriminating on his an- 
tagonist for the same acts which he excused in him- 
self, and attempting, by the most groundless insinua- 
tions, to render him suspected of evasion in his late 
Apology to Anastasius. We have little concern, 
however, except with what relates to Universalism. 
To extricate himself from the awkward predicament 
in which he was placed by the unfortunate reference 



1 Hieron. Apolog. adv. Rufinum, lib. i. and ii., torn. iv. Jerome had not yet 
seen Runnus's Invective entire, but only the extracts which Paulinianua had sent 
him. What these were we can learn only by Jerome's answer. 



220 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



to his Commentaries on Uphesians and Ecclesiastes, 
he resorted to the desperate plea, that as the passages 
containing the doctrines of an aerial resurrection pre- 
existence, and universal restoration were abridged by 
him from Origen and other authors, he was not 
responsible for the sentiments. The truth was, he 
had incorporated them into his own work, without a 
mark of censure, and without giving the original writ- 
ers as his authority. 1 

That he would now be understood to deny the sal- 
vation of the devil and of the damned, is certain ; and 
he even complained that upon this, as well as on other 
points, Eufinus had not been sufficiently explicit in his 
Apology to the Eoroan pontiff. 2 But it is remarkable 
that he still avoided reckoning it among the important 
errors of Origen, and that he invariably passed it 
over, when he referred to them ; as in the following 
catalogue: "I point out to you, in Origen's works," 
said he to Eufinus, "many evil things, and particu- 
larly these heresies : that the Son and Holy Spirit 
are subordinate ; that there are innumerable worlds 
succeeding each other to all eternity; that angels 
were changed into human souls ; that Christ's human 
soul existed before it was born of Mary ; and that it 
was this which thought it no robbery to be equal with 
God, seeing it was in the form of God, yet humbled 
itself, and took the form of a servant ; that in the 
resurrection our bodies will be aerial, without mem- 
bers, and that they will eventually vanish into noth- 
ing ; that in the universal restitution, the celestial 



1 Uieron. Apolog. adv. Kufinum, lib. i. and ii., torn. iv. 

2 Ditto, lib. ii., p. 393. 



OF UNIVERSALIS!*!. 



221 



powers and the infernal spirits, together with the souls 
of all mankind, will be reduced into one order or rank 
I of beings ; and that from this uniform state of equality 
they will again diverge, as formerly, holding various 
courses, until at length some, falling into sin, shall be 
born once more into a mortal world with human bod- 
ies. So that we, who are now men, may fear here- 
after to be women ; and they who are now virgins, to 
be, then, prostitutes. These heresies I point out in 
Origen's works ; do you now show me in what work 
of his you can find the contrary." 1 

This Apology, abounding in ridicule and sarcasm, 
was finished in two books and sent to Italy some 
time in the year 403, 2 while Rufinus was still flatter- 
ing himself that the secret of his performance had not 
transpired. Stung into madness by the lampoons, the 
insults, and the misrepresentations of his opponent, 
Rufinus immediately sent to Bethlehem the whole of 
his Invective, accompanied with a letter threatening 
prosecution, and perhaps death. Upon this, Jerome 
added to his Apology a third book, written in a style 
which showed that he would not be outdone in rage 
nor in vulgar abuse. Though too much engrossed 
by other matters to pay particular attention to the old 
topic of Origen's errors, he nevertheless repeated his 
attacks on the notion, that all rational creatures will 
eventually return to one common grade of being, and 

1 Hieron. Apolog. adv. Rufinum, lib. ii., p. 403. See also lib. i., pp. 355, 371, 
and lib. ii. p. 407, and lib. iii., p. 441. 

2 Huet, Du Pin, etc., say in A. D. 402; but as Jerome mentions Anastasius's 
Letter to John of Jerusalem (lib. ii., p. 405), which could not have reached Pal- 
estine before the close of the year 402, or beginning of 403, 1 have given Jerome's 
Apology the later date. 



222 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



that they may afterwards relapse, and renew their 
present diversity. 1 It is remarkable that he seemed 
almost to concede, notwithstanding his perverse tern-*: 
per, that he had once followed Origen too far. 2 

With this hot altercation, and with the simultane- 
^ ^ ^ ous triumph of Theophilus, subsided, for the 
present, the public contest in the church con- 
cerning Origenism. Its professors were everywhere 
obliged to conceal their belief ; and their doctrine was 
generally regarded as heretical, at least as dangerous 
to the peace of Christendom. Some of its particu- 
lars, however, were still avowed without censure, 
when no partiality towards the sect was suspected. 
But Universalism, having been condemned in one of 
its points, received a check from which it never en- 
tirely recovered in the Catholic church. 

We may pronounce it probable that the doctrine of 
the salvation of the devil and his angels would, for 
this time, have escaped condemnation and perhaps 
reproach, had it not been found in company with 
other offensive tenets. As to the general character 
of the violent proceedings now described, it is too 
manifest that they deserve the brand of personal 
quarrels, rather than the honorable appellation of a 
contest for the truth. Of the three chief agents, 
Epiphanius, an honest but credulous and bigoted man, 
may indeed be supposed to have acted, in a great 
measure, from principle, as he had long been dis- 
tinguished for zeal against Origenism. But Theophi- 
lus engaged in the quarrel through policy and grudge, 



1 Apolog., lib. iii., p. 441. 

2 Ditto, pp. 445, 447. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



223 



and prosecuted it for private revenge ; and we must 
pass nearly the same judgment on the motives of 
Jerome. Both had formerly been admirers of Origen ; 
and both, after the strife was past, betrayed again, 
though with caution, their partiality for his works. 



224 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



CHAPTEK VIII. 

FROM A. D. 404 TO A. D. 500. 

After two or three centuries of decay, the unwieldy 
mass of the Koman Empire had now fallen 

A. D. 405. 1 

into two parts, by a permanent separation 
of the East from the West. Over these divisions, the 
innocent but effeminate sons of Theodosius the Great 
enjoyed the name of sovereignty, while their feeble 
hands, unable to sway the sceptre, resigned to their 
favorites and ministers the actual exercise of authority. 
Arcadius, the eastern emperor, sat on his father's 
throne in Constantinople ; his younger brother, Hono- 
rius, held the western court at Ravenna in Italy. 
Eome, the eternal city, the boasted mistress of the 
world, was no longer honored with the empty compli- 
ment of the imperial residence. Patriotism, courage, 
and even bodily strength had, to a great degree, for- 
saken a people dispirited by ages of despotism, 
corrupted by its vices, and enervated by luxury and 
sloth. Throughout the East internal disorders 
agitated the public tranquillity, and open rebellion 
alarmed the feeble administration. In the West 
all hearts were trembling at the portentous move- 
ments of the fierce barbarians of the North, who 
hovered on the frontiers of Greece and Italy, and 
threatened, not in vain, to pour their forces over the 



OF UNIVEESALISM. 



225 



beautiful territories into the ancient seat of empire. 
Already had they made an alarming incursion, from 
which they were turned back partly by force of arms, 
and partly by gold ; and they waited but the prepara- 
tion of four or five years for their more successful 
return, when Eome itself was to be taken and sacked 
by Alaric at the head of his Goths. 

In this period of terror and disorder, the church 
sympathized, of course, in the perils and fears of the 
state, with which she was so intimately connected ; 
but her worldly power naturally increased in propor- 
tion as the civil establishment grew weaker and more 
in need of her assistance. The public dangers never 
made her, for a moment, lose sight of the favorite 
object of ambition, towards which she advanced with 
the slow but fatal steadiness of the laws of nature. 
Nor did she withdraw her attention from her more 
domestic concerns. Among other employments, her 
clergy now found a grateful exercise for their zeal and 
violence in the overthrow of the last monuments of 
heathenism, and in the suppression of the rebellious 
sects among themselves. The affair of the Origenists 
had been, to all appearance, successfully despatched ; 
but in Africa a very numerous and troublesome party 
of orthodox believers, the Donatists, stood out, with 
peculiar obstinacy, against all the invitations and all 
the threatenings of the church. In the course of 
three years as many councils had assembled at Car- 
thage, under the influence of the celebrated Augustine, 
with the design of compelling them to return to the 
Catholic communion, from which they had separated, 
in an electioneering quarrel, nearly a century before. 



226 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



But these measures, though seconded by the severe 
edicts of Houorius, had little success ; the schismatics, 
for the most part, remained stubborn, and their 
savage partisans continued to carry sword and fire 
through the province. 

The political commotions and ecclesiastical dis- 
turbances of the time operated, un- 

A. D. 405 to 412. . . 

doubtedly, to divert tne public attend on 
from the subject of Origenism, and to afford repose to 
the obnoxious party. The clamor of the late contest 
seems to have sunk at once into silence ; and as the 
impression was almost universal that the quarrel had 
been, in a great measure, personal, that it had been 
marked with unwarrantable violence and pursued too 
far, 1 its victims were regarded with less rigor than 
was usual in cases of adjudged heresy. Eufinus 
appears to have enjoyed, at Aquileia, the patronage 
of his own bishop, 2 and the countenance, perhaps, 
of other dignitaries in the Italian churches. 3 He 
spent the remainder of his life, unmolested, in com- 
posing Commentaries on the Scriptures, and in trans- 
lating Origen and other Greek writers ; till, in a. d. 
409, he fled at the approach of the northern bar- 
barians, and retired into Sicily, where he died the 
next year. Melania, his noble and faithful patroness, 
accompanied him, with a numerous train, to Sicily. 
Proceeding thence to Africa, where she was compli- 

1 The banishment of Chrysostom roused the grief and indignation of a numerous 
party in the East, and of all the West. Unremitted efforts were made for his 
recall, hut he died in the mean time ; and, though it had been resolved to arraign 
Theophilus before a General Council, the affair was dropped. 

2 He translated Eusebius's Eccl. History at the request of Chromatins, Bishop 
of Aquileia. 

3 Hieron. Apolog. adv. Rufin., lib. iii., p. 453. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



227 



merited by Augustine, she pursued her way into Pal- 
estine. Her death soon followed, at Jerusalem, the 
scene of her former munificence ; and, notwithstand- 
ing her connection with the Origenists, she was 
honored with the title of saint, and her name inserted 
in the public martyrologies. 1 John of Jerusalem was, 
the meanwhile, strongly suspected of retaining a secret 
partiality for the proscribed doctrines ; but he con- 
ducted so warily as to enjoy his bishopric in quiet ; 
and even his implacable neighbor, Jerome, could find 
no pretence for renewing the quarrel. 2 Evagrius 
Ponticus, having been overlooked in the rage of The- 
ophilus, died, probably about this time, in some undis- 
turbed retreat among the Egyptian monasteries ; but 
Palladius of Gallatia, late Bishop of Helenopolis, was 
suffering in banishment, not for his Origenism, but 
for his adherence to the exiled Chrysostom. He was 
afterwards recalled, however, and appointed over the 
church of Aspora, in his native province. 3 Theophi- 
lus himself now provoked the abhorrence of such as 
remembered his former violence and solemn prohibi- 
tions, by amusing his leisure with the perusal of 
Origen's works ; and he openly asserted, as his justi- 
fication, that, among some thorns which they con- 
tained, he found many beautiful and precious flowers. 
He had, however, written a large volume against 
Origen, which, though it has- long since perished, 
survived his death in a. d. 412. It is remarkable, 

1 Fleury's Eccl. Hist., book xxii., chap. 22, and Huetii Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 4, 
sec. 1, § 22. 

2 Hieronymi, Epist. lxxvii. vel. 81., ad Augustm., torn, iv., part ii., p. 642. 

3 Du Pin's Bibliotheca Patrum, art. Palladius, and Cave, Hist. Lit., art. Pal- 
ladius, and Fleury's Eccl. Hist., book xxi., chap. 59, and xxii. 3, 10. 



228 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



also, that Jerome still continued to quote Origen as 
an able and authoritative expounder of Scripture, 1 
while he, at the same time, maintained his hatred 
against Bufinus and his party, and never spoke of 
them but with indecent abuse. 2 The errors of Origen, 
that phrase so indefinite though so often repeated, 
were also the subject of his occasional reprehension. 
He continued to dwell on nearly the same particulars 
as formerly ; still passing over the tenet of Univer- 
salism, although it was plainly taught in some of the 
extracts which he adduced as pernicious on other 
accounts. 3 His present belief, however, at least his 
professed belief, was, that the devil and his angels, 
obstinate infidels and open blasphemers, shall suffer 
endless torments, while such as have embraced Chris- 
tianity, yet led vicious lives, shall be consigned only 
to a long, but temporary purgatory after death. 4 

1 Hieronymi, Epist. Ixxiv. vel. 89, ad Augustin., pp. 619, 620. 

2 Hieron., Epist. xcvi. vel. 16, ad Princip., pp. 781, 782; and Epist. xcvii., vel. 8, 
ad Demetriad., pp. 793, 794. 

3 Hieron., Epist. xciv., vel. 59, ad Avitum. Jerome wrote this letter about A. D. 
407, to accompany his translation of Origen's hooks Of Principles, which he gave to 
one Avitus, a Spaniard. It was composed for the purpose of pointing out the 
errors which those hooks contained ; and the following he selects as the principal : 
1. That concerning the Trinity. 2. The original equality of all intellectual 
creatures, and their perpetual revolution from bliss to misery, and from misery to 
bliss, by means of vice and virtue. 3. That all bodies whatever, with which 
rational beings are clothed, will at length vanish into nothing. 4. That innumer- 
able worlds have preceded, and that innumerable others are to succeed, this 
present. 5. That the flames and torments of Gehenna, or hell, which the 
Scriptures threaten to sinners, are nothing but the remorse of their consciences in 
the future world. 6. That our present conditions and circumstances are allotted 
us on account of our merits or demerits in a former state of being. And 7. That 
as Christ has been crucified for mankind in this world, so he will, perhaps, suffer 
death in eternity, for the salvation of the devil and his angels. These errors of 
Origen, Jerome exposes by means of long quotations from the books Of Principles; 
and several of these extracts incidentally mention the restitution of all creatures 
to purity and bliss; but on this particular our author makes no direct remarks. 

4 Hieron. Comment, in Esaiam, lib. xvi. (cap. lxvi., v. 24). Written A. D. 409, 
torn. iii. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



229 



This doctrine he appears to have avowed for the rest 
of his life, 1 sometimes acknowledging, however, that 
those sinners who have been severely punished in this 
world, such as the antediluvians, the Sodomites, and 
Pharaoh's host, will be pardoned in the next. 2 After 
all, there is some reason to suspect that Jerome still 
remained, though in secret, a Universalist. 3 

1 Hieron. contra Pelagian, lib. i., cap. 9. Written about A. D. 415. 

2 Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat., art. Jerome. 

3 See his Comment, in Esaiam, lib. xvi. (cap. lxvi., v. 24). Commenting upon 
these words of the prophet, They shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the 
men that have transgressed against me; for their worm s?iall not die, neither shall 
their fire be quenched ; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh, Jerome says, 
" This fire will burn as long as that matter remains which feeds the voracious 
flame. If, therefore, any one's conscience be infested with tares, which the enemy 
sowed while the householder was asleep, the fire will burn and devour them. And 
in the eyes of all the saints shall be manifested the torments of those who, instead 
of laying gold, silver, precious stones upon the foundation of the Lord, have built 
thereupon hay, wood, stubble, the fuel of the eternal fire. Moreover, they who 
would ha/e these torments, though protracted through many ages, come at length to 
an end, use the following texts : When the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come 
in, then all Israel shall be saved. (Rom. xi. 25, 26.) Again: God had concluded 
all under sin, that he may have mercy upon all. In another passage it is said, 
I will sustain the wrath of the Lord, for I have sinned against him, until he justify 
my cause, and bring forth my judgment, and lead me into light. (Micah vii. 9.) 
And again: I will bless thee, 0 Lord, that thou wast angry with me. Thou didst 
turn thy face from me; but thou hast had compassion upon me. (Isa. xii. 1.) 
The Lord also says to the sinner, when the wrath of my fury shall have passed, I 
will heal thee again. Accordingly it is said, in another place, How great is the 
multitude of thy favors, 0 Lord, which thou hast laid up in secret for them that 
fear thee! (Ps. xxi. 19.) All which texts they repeat, in order to maintain that 
after punishments and torture, there will be a refreshing, which must now be 
hidden from those to whom fear is necessary, that while they fear the torments 
they may desist from sin. We ought to leave it to the wisdom of God alone, 
whose measure not only of mercy, but of torment, is just, and who knows whom 
to judge, and in what manner, and how long to punish. We may only say, as 
becomes human frailty, Lord, contend not with me in thy fury, nor in thy wrath 
take me away. (Ps.) And as we believe in the eternal torments of the devil and 
of all deniers and impious men who have said in their heart. There is no God ; so 
we may suppose that the sentence of the Judge on those sinners and impious 
persons who nevertheless are Christians, and whose woi'ks are to be tried and 
purged in the fire, will be moderated and mixed with mercy." Considering 
Jerome's usual positiveness, and especially his violence in the late contention, I 
cannot satisfactorily account for the foregoing language, so moderate if not even 
equivocal, without supposing that he himself secretly agreed with those Restora- 
tionists of whom he speaks. 



230 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



Nor did he stand altogether alone in the church. 
The orthodox of this age may be divided into five 
classes, with respect to their views of future punish- 
ment and the final extent of salvation : 1 . The most 

ri^id among them believed that none would here- 
© © 

after be saved, except those who died in the true 
faith and in the exercise of godliness ; and most, if 
not all, of these held, for the less deserving saints a 
mild purgatory, by which they were to be thoroughly 
cleansed before their admission into heaven. Such 
were the sentiments of the famous Augustine, 1 the 
oracle of the western church, who was, however, 
disposed, at times, to mitigate the severity of damna- 
tion. 2 2. Another class held, in substance, with the 
more ancient fathers Lactantius, Hilary, Basil, and 
Ambrose, that all would finally be saved who con- 
tinued to the last in the Catholic faith and discipline, 
whatever were their moral characters ; but that such 
of them as lived wickedly should suffer a long and 
excruciating trial by fire, in the future world, before 
their reception to bliss. This, probably, was the 
common, the popular belief; and Jerome must be 
numbered among its professed advocates. 3. Others 
believed that all would eventually be saved, who had 
been baptized in the Catholic church, and had par- 
taken of the eucharist, into whatever crimes, errors, 
and heresies they might afterwards have fallen; 
alleging in their support the declarations of the 
Saviour, that whoever eateth of this bread shall live 

1 Augustin., De Civitate Dei, lib. xx., cap. 1, and xxi., 24 and 26. See also Du 
Pin's Bibliotb. Patrum., art. Augustine. 

2 Augustin., Enchiridion ad Laurentium, cap. 112, 113. De Fide, et Op., cap. 23, 
26. 



OF UNIVEIlSxlLISM. 



231 



forever, and the remark of the apostle, that the 
church is the body of Christ. 4. Many of the ortho- 
dox, though they held, agreeably to the decision of 
the late councils against Origen, that the devil and 
his angels would suffer endless punishment, believed, 
nevertheless, that all mankind, without exception, 
would be saved ; the wicked, after ages of torment in 
hell. 5. The last class of the orthodox, which was 
perhaps small, held that God had indeed threatened 
future misery on the impenitent, but that the saints, 
at the great judgment day, would so earnestly inter- 
cede with the Almighty in behalf of the world, that 
all mankind, even the impious and the infidels, would 
be saved without any suffering at all ; while the devil 
and his angels should be abandoned to endless torture. 
To prove the right of God to remit his threatenings, 
they adduced the judgment denounced, but not 
executed, upon Nineveh. 1 The two classes, last 
named, seem to have formed, if we reckon them 
together, a large proportion of the orthodox. 2 

All this variety of opinion appears to have been 
tolerated in the church ; and it is natural to suppose 
that there were some who still held in secret, with 
Origen, that all intelligent creatures, including the 
apostate angels, would ultimately be reconciled to 
God. 

This last opinion, heretical as it had been adjudged, 
was certainly spreading and openly 
taught, in the north-eastern province of 



A. D. 410 to 415. 



1 Augustin., De Civit. Dei, lib. xxi., cap. 17—24. 

2 Augustin., Enchiridion, cap. 112. " Quam plurimi" — very many, as many as 
possible — is the phrase by which he denotes the number of those who did not 
believe that eternal punishment would be actually inflicted. 



232 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



Spain, that now bears the name of Catalonia. About 
fifty miles beyond the mouth of the Ebro stands the 
modern city of Tarragona, on the venerable ruins of 
the ancient metropolis, Tarraco ; which, from the 
summit of a gentle eminence, overlooked the Medi- 
terranean to the south, and a fertile country inland. 1 
Two of the citizens, by the name of Avitus, having 
spent some time in the East, returned not far from 
a. d. 410 ; and one of them brought from Jerome, in 
Palestine, the correct translation of Origen's books 
Of Principles, together with a long Letter pointing 
out their erroneous doctrines. 2 But the antidote 
proved only a partial preventive. While the two 
friends rejected some of Origen's speculations, they 
adopted others ; and with the assistance of one Basil, 
a Grecian, they proceeded to teach among the people 
the following peculiar tenets : 1. That all things had, 
from eternity, a real existence in the mind of Deity. 
2. That angels, human souls, and demons were of one 
uniform, equal substance, and originally of the same 
rank ; and that their present diversity is the conse- 
quence of their former deserts. 3. That this world 
was made for the punishment and purification of the 
souls which had sinned in the pre-existent state. 4. 
That the flames of future torment are not material 
fire, but only the remorse of conscience. 5. That 
they are not endless ; for, although they are called 
everlasting, yet that word, in the original Greek, 
does not, according to its etymology and its frequent 



1 Swinburne's Travels in Spain. 

2 Hieronymi, Epist. xciv., vel. 59, ad Avitum. See note 3, page 228. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM. 



233 



use, signify endless, but answers only to the duration 

of an age ; so that every sinner, after the purification 

of his conscience, shall return into the unity of the 

body of Christ. 6. That the devil himself will, at 

length, be saved, when all his wickedness shall have 

been subdued. 7. That Christ had been employed, 

before his advent on earth, in preaching to the angels 

and exalted powers. 8. That the sun, moon, and 

stars are to be reckoned among those intelligent ra- 
ts o 

tional creatures who, according to St. Paul, were 
made subject to vanity, and likewise to hope. 1 

These doctrines, together with the separate heresy 
of the Priscillianists which flourished in Spain, caused 
so much disturbance at Tarraco and its neighborhood, 
that two of the bishops at length sent a deputation on 
the subject to Augustine, in Africa; and he immedi- 
ately wrote, in return, a small book Against the JPris- 
cillianists and Origenists, but chiefly against 
the latter. In opposition to their views of 
future punishment, he asserted the materiality of its 
fire, and laboriously defended the eternity of its dura- 
tion ; attempting to maintain that the original word, 
translated everlasting, always signified endless. But, 
because there might be some exceptions, as he at the 
same time inconsistently admitted, he then changed 
his ground, and resorted to that declaration of Christ, 
These shall go away into everlasting -punishment, but 
the righteous into life eternal (Matt. xxv. 46), where 
the same Greek word was applied to the torments of 
the damned and to the bliss of the saints ; so that if 



1 Orosii Consultatio sive Commonitorium ad Augustin. inter Augustini. Opp., 
torn, vi., edit. Basil, 1569. 



234 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



the Origenists would, through compassion, limit the 
duration of the former, they must also restrict that 
of the latter. But, if this should not convince them, 
how could they elude that declaration of the prophet 
Isaiah, Their worm shall not die, neither shall their 
fire be quenched? (Isa. lxvi. 24. ) 1 

Such is the order and substance of his argumeuts, 
It is remarkable that here we meet with the earliest 
attempt at criticism on that original word which has 
been the subject of so much cavilling in modern 
times. But Augustine, a Latin writer, was too im- 
perfectly acquainted with the Greek language to de- 
fine its terms ; and, if we may judge from what we 
have observed in our own day, his criticisms were ac- 
counted satisfactory by the determined believers in 
endless misery, but absurd by the Universalists. A 
few years afterwards, in composing a general body 
of divinity, he repeated some of these arguments, 
with several additions, and combated the notions of 
all the several classes just mentioned, who extended 
the happiness of heaven beyond the number who died 
in faith and holiness. 2 He has furnished the moderns 
with many of the trite but popular objections, which 
are now alleged from the Scriptures, against the sal- 
vation of all mankind. 3 

1 Augustini lib. Contra Priscillianistas et Origenistas, torn. vi. 

2 Augustin. De Civit. Dei. lib. xxi., cap. 23 — 24. 

3 As a specimen of his reasoning or declamation, which with him was original, 
I subjoin an entire chapter from his great work. The City of God : — 

" And in the first place we should ascertain why the Church has refused to allow 
people to dispute in favor of a purification and release of the devil himself, after 
very great and lasting punishments. It was not that so many holy men, so well 
instructed in the Old and New Testaments, grudged any of the angels a purifica- 
tion and the bliss of heaven after so great torments ; but it was because they saw 
it impossible to annul or weaken that divine sentence which the Lord declared h& 



OF UNIVERSALTSM. 



235 



But however inconclusive his arguments may have 
been deemed, the great authority of his opinions, 
especially in the western churches, must have 
checked the progress of any doctrine which he was 
known so decidedly to oppose. Already were his 
talents, his virtues, and his faithfulness regarded with 
a general homage, such as had been enjoyed by none 
of the Christian doctors since the time of the more 
vigorous and enterprising, but less amiable Athana- 

would pronounce in the judgment, Dejxirt from me. ye cursed, into eternal fire, 
prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matt. xxv. 41.) For thus it is shown that 
the devil and his angels are to burn in eternal fire. As it is written in the 
Apocalypse: The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and 
brimstone, where are the beast and the false prophet ; and they shall be tormented 
day and night forever and ever. (Rev. xx. 10.) What is called in the other pas- J 
sage eteiiial, is here expressed by forever and ever ; by which words the divine 
Scripture is wont to mean nothing but what is endless in duration. And there is 
no other reason, nor can one more just and manifest be found, why we should 
hold it fixed and immutable in the sincerest piety, that the devil and his angels 
arc never to return to righteousness and the life of the holy, than that the Scrip- 
ture, which deceives no one, says that God spared them not (2 Pet. ii. 4), but de- 
livered them up to be kept in prisons of infernal darkness, in order to be punished 
at the last judgment, when they shall be sent into eternal fire, where they shall be 
tormented forever and ever. This being the case, how can all or any of mankind, 
after a certain period, be restored from the eternity of this punishment, and not 
immediately weaken that faith by which we believe the torments of the demons 
will be endless ? For if all or any of those to whom it shall be said, Depart from 
me, ye cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, shall not 
always remain there, what reason have we to believe that the devil and his angels 
will always remain -there ? Will the sentence of God, which is pronounced both 
against the evil angels and men, be true with respect to the angels, and false with 
respect to men ? Thus it will plainly be, if not what God said, but what men 
6uspect, avail the most. But because that cannot be the case, they who would 
shun eternal torments ought, while there is time, to yield to the divine precept 
instead of arguing against God. And again : how can we suppose eternal tor- 
ment to be only a fire of long duration, and yet eternal life to be without end, 
when in the very same passage, and in one and the same sentence, Christ said 
with reference to both, These shall go away into eternal pnnishment, but the 
rig?iteous into eternal life. (Matt. xxv. 46.) As both are eternal, both certainly 
ought to be understood either as of long duration, but with an end, or else as per- 
petual, with no end. For they are connected together : on the one hand, eternal 
punishment; on the other, eternal life. And it is very absurd to say, in this one 
and the same sense, that eternal life will be without end, and eternal punish- 
ment will have an end. Whence, as the eternal life of the saints will be without end, 



236 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



sius. In the West his decisions were received with 
almost universal deference ; and in the East his name 
was regarded with great, though perhaps not equal, 
veneration. A long and intimate familiarity with the 
Scriptures, a competent share of learning, and a large 
fund of general information, which had been rather 
hastily collected, supplied his strong and capacious 
mind with subjects for reflection, and provided his 
argumentative genius with the weapons of contro- 
versy, which, however, he generally managed with 
moderation. In general, he treated his opponents 

so also the eternal punishment of those who shall suffer it will, without any 
doubt, have no end." De Civitate Dei, lib. xxi., cap. 23. This remains, even to 
the present day, the most popular and perhaps the most plausible argument 
used against the doctrine of Universal Salvation; and yet it is founded on one of 
the most palpable blunders into which the chureh has fallen, — that of applying 
to eternity what Christ declared should be accomplished in his own generation. 
Compare Matt. xxv. 31—, with its immediate connection, Matt. xxiv. 30 — 34; and 
also with Matt. x. 23— xvi. 27, 28; Mark viii. 38; ix. 1; Luke ix. 26, 27. 

Another chapter of the same work furnishes us with the original, I believe, 
whence has been derived one of the popular methods of justifying the infliction 
of eudless torments : " But to human notions eternal punishment seems hard and 
unjust, because that in the weakness of our mortal senses we are destitute of that 
most exalted and pure wisdom by which we could realize how great was the 
wickedness committed in the first transgression. For in proportion as man en- 
joyed God, was the magnitude of his impiety in forsaking God : and he was 
worthy of eternal evil, who destroyed in himself that good which might have 
been eternal. And the whole mass of the human race was therefore condemned, 
because that he who first introduced sin was punished together with his posterity 
which had its root in him ; so that none could be released from this just and mer- 
ited penalty, but by mercy and unmerited grace. And thus mankind are so situ- 
ated that in some of them the power of merciful grace may be exhibited; and in 
the rest, the power of vindictive justice. For both could not be manifested upon 
all; because if all should remain in the sufferings of their just damnation, in none 
would appear the merciful grace of redemption, and if all should be translated 
from darkness into light, in none would appear the severity of vengeance. Of 
the latter class there are many more than of the former : that thus might be shown 
what was due to all. And if it had been inflicted upon all, none could, with pro- 
priety, have called in question the justice of the vengeance ; and the release of so 
many as are saved therefrom should be an occasion of the greatest thanksgiving 
for the gift of redemption." De Civitate Dei, lib. xxi., cap. 12. N. B. — This was 
written about A. D. 420 or 426. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



237 



with an indulgence to which they were unaccustomed, 
and which would appear with advantage in the theo- 
logical warfare of a later and more refined age. That 
he sometimes dissembled for truth's sake, and that he 
countenanced the legal persecution of schismatics 
when he could not persuade them to re-enter the 
Catholic church, may in justice be imputed to the per- 
nicious but approved maxims of his times. Augus- 
tine was a great and a good man. Yet he was the 
father of the present orthodox system of total de- 
pravity, irresistible grace, and sovereign, partial elec- 
tion. 

By introducing this system of doctrine into the 
church, he unknowingly laid upon the cause of Uni- 
versalism a remote, but eventually, a more fatal 
check than even the decisions of a council could 
have imposed. Hitherto, none of the Catholic Chris- 
tians had gone farther, in their very lowest descents 
into orthodoxy, than to represent that, from the fall 
of Adam, all his posterity inherited a mortal constitu- 
tion, and such an unhappy weakness of soul as, com- 
bined with the depravity of the flesh, caused a pro- 
pensity to sin ; and that the supernatural influences 
of God's Spirit were necessary to aid, not strictly to 
create, good resolutions, and to render them effectual. 
But this divine agency, they had ever held, was al- 
ways received or rejected, cherished or suppressed, 
yielded to or resisted, by the free will of the creature ; 
and they had never disputed that all had competent 
power, both natural and moral, to avail themselves 
of its assistance. It was proffered sincerely to all, 
for the single purpose of preserving in holiness such 



238 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



as were already pure, and of reclaiming the sinful ; 
for, it was unequivocally the will of God that all 
should be saved. There may, indeed, have been 
some who entertained a vague notion that the devil 
and his angels, when they apostatized, sunk below 
the reach of divine mercy, and that impenitent sin- 
ners, when they die, pass the line that admits no re- 
turn. But that God had sought to prevent the fatal 
catastrophe appears to have been doubted by none ; 
and that his decrees were concerned in procuring it 
was a thought from which every one would have 
shrunk with horror. 

So long as it was the invariable opinion that God 
sincerely aimed at the repentance and salvation of 
all his erring creatures, it is easy to discover that a 
silent but strong influence was constantly bearing the 
more reflecting minds towards Universalism ; since it 
was unreasonable to suppose that the will of an im- 
mutable Deity could ever totally abandon its aim, or 
that Omnipotence would be forever frustrated in its 
objects by the impotence of man. Kesulting from 
this view there was also a favorable, though often 
indefinite, persuasion of the general goodness of God, 
which tended to suggest doubts of the eternal inflic- 
tion of a torment as fruitless as it was unmerciful. But 
when Christians became accustomed to consider it 'the 
arbitrary determination of the almighty Sovereign to 
save a part, and a part only, and at the same time to 
abandon the rest to certain and complete ruin, the 
doctrine of endless misery stood on its own proper 
and substantial foundation, — the divine counsel ; for 
it was not likely that the neglected and helpless 



OF UNI VERS ALISM. 



239 



wretches would be saved when their recovery was not 
actually desired by God. 1 

This change of doctrine, one of the most momentous 
which has ever occurred, seems to have 
taken place in the church, like many 
others, by accident rather than by design. Two British 
monks, Pelagius and his disciple Celestius, residing at 
Rome early in this century, imbibed some peculiar 
sentiments from certain 2 Christians who had studied 
in the East. Though these sentiments were silently 
spreading in the city, little notice was taken of them ; 
and Pelagius continued to enjoy a high and deserved 
reputation for the purity of his character and for the 
warmth of his devotion to the church. Going at 
length into Africa, he formed some acquaintance with 
Augustine ; and then pursued his course on a visit to 
John, in Palestine, leaving Celestius at Carthage. 
Here the latter was soon involved in a charge of 
heresy ; and he was condemned at the council of 
Carthage, in a. d. 412, for teaching, what was cer- 
tainly a considerable variation from the popular belief 

1 1 do not forget, what may at first seem inconsistent with this reasoning, that 
the high Calvinism of Whitfield and his school was the immediate occasion of the 
rise of the present sect of Universalists. But then the leading preachers of 
Whitfield's connection did not usually dwell on the black side of the picture. 
The favorite themes on which many of them used to expatiate, with all the fervor 
of enthusiasm, were the complete pardon purchased by Christ, the free, uncondi- 
tional gift of salvation, and the omnipotent energy of God's Spirit in converting 
sinners. When these encouraging topics were so zealously urged, without a cor- 
responding regard for the decree of damnation, it was hut one step forward to the 
hope, the conclusion, that God would have all men to be saved, and to this step, 
the strong tide of their new feelings, their view of the Messiah's increasing and 
victorious kingdom, as well as the testimonies of Scripture, impelled them, often 
before they were thoroughly aware. 

2 It has been supposed that one Rufinus, a Syrian (a friend and not the oppo 
nent of Jerome), brought this doctrine from Asia Minor, and pernaps from Theo 
doms of Mopsuestia, to Rome, and here taught it to Pelagius. 



240 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



of the age, that Adam was created mortal, and that 
his transgression affected none of his posterity, but 
himself alone. To these particulars we may here add 
some others which were involved during the progress 
of the succeeding controversy, and which complete 
the doctrine of Pelagianism : that as mankind are now 
born pure, they are able, after transgression, to repent, 
reform, and arrive at length to the highest degrees of 
virtue and piety, even to perfection, by the exercise 
merely of their own natural powers ; that though the 
external excitements of divine grace are necessary to 
rouse their endeavors, yet they have no need of any 
internal agency of the Holy Ghost ; that infant baptism 
does not wash away sin, but is only a ceremony of 
admittance into the Church of Christ ; and that good 
works are meritorious as the conditions of salvation. 
Such, it appears, were the real tenets of Pelagius and 
Celestius, though they were sometimes unjustly 
charged with disowning the necessity of the grace of 
God in every sense relative to human actions, and 
with denying the utility of infant baptism. 

On the condemnation of Celestius, in the council of 
Carthage, Augustine began to preach and to write 
against the heresy with his characteristic tenderness 
at first towards its authors, but always with a cool, 
invincible determination to destroy their doctrine, 
root and branch. But, in the long contest which 
followed, he himself went over, by degrees, to the 
opposite extreme ; and influenced, perhaps, by the 
early bias of his Manichean principles, 1 he maintained, 

1 See page 126, note 1. It is a curious circumstance that nearly all the fathers 
who had heen converted from other religions, always retained some of the 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



241 



what was new in the church, that Adam's transgression 
had so thoroughly corrupted all his posterity, that, by 
nature, they could do only evil, and that nothing but 
the irresistible Spirit of the Almighty could incline 
their wills to good, and induce them, contrary to their 
nature, to accept of his grace. God alone was, from 
first to last, the immediate agent of their counternatu- 
ral conversion ; and on his arbitrary pleasure only did 
it depend, whether the impotent sinner should be ren- 
ovated. From these premises he advanced to the 
•necessary conclusion, that God had foreordained whom 
to convert, and finally to save, without reference to 
anything which they should perform ; while he had 
likewise predetermined to pass by all the remainder of 
the fallen race. Such was the first organization of the 
present orthodox system, so far as it regards total 
depravity, election, and reprobation. 1 With quite 
different views, the Pelagians were also attacked by 

peculiarities of their former doctrines, notwithstanding they became the most 
strenuous opposers of those systems, taken as a whole. Witness the converts of 
the Greeks, who corrupted Christianity with their old philosophy; and those 
from the Magian religion, who introduced the monstrous fables of the Gnos- 
tics. 

1 The difference between Augustine's doctrine and that of Calvin, on election 
and reprobation, though small, is such as to betray the crudeness of the master, 
and the finishing touches of his scholar. Augustine seems to have held that God 
did not ordain the fall of Adam, and that it was after that event occurred, and 
when it had become certain that the whole race would be born totally depraved, 
and therefore under helpless bondage to sin, that the elect were chosen and the 
reprobate abandoned. The original plan of creation did not embrace such a re- 
sult. But Calvin and other reformers, with a better digested arrangement, car- 
ried back the separating decree to the past ages of eternity ; so that mankind were 
originally created for their respective destinations. Augustine was by no means 
thoroughly systematic : he held that Christ died for all men; that even genuine 
conversion is no security of final happiness, as the subjects may afterwards fatally 
relapse and perish ; and that the grace of perseverance alone is the pledge of per- 
sonal election. No infants, who had not been baptized, could be saved; because 
regeneration was effected only in the rite of water baptism. 



242 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



other coteniporary writers, and among the rest by 
Jerome, with his accustomed violence. 

During the first three or four years of his troubles, 
Pelagius resided in Palestine, enjoying 
the patronage of John of Jerusalem ; and 
when, in a. d. 416, he was arraigned, on a charge of 
heresy, before a synod at Diospolis, near Joppa, that 
prelate earnestly defended him, and procured his en- 
tire acquittal. 1 But John did not live to witness the 
conclusion of the controversy. A peaceful death 
closed his career in the beginning of a. d. 417, at 
about the age of sixty. He was somewhat famous in 
his day, but chiefly for the part he bore in the contests 
which agitated the church. We discover nothing in 
his life that evinces superior learning, talents, or 
piety ; and as he has been generally described, he be- 
trays considerable petulance, timidity, and wary cun- 
ning. In justice to him, however, we must remember 
that his history is collected wholly from his opponents, 
and chiefly from his bitter enemies. His friends, it is 
certain, gave him the character of a worthy and pious 
man ; and even Pope Anastasius and Augustine ad- 
dressed him in terms of respect and esteem. Indeed, 
such as he is actually described, it would be no dis- 
paragement to the generality of his cotemporaries to 
compare them with him. He was a zealous patron of 
the monastic life, and joined in the prevailing venera- 
tion of relics ; and his last days were honored, to 
adopt the language of those times, by the miraculous 
discovery of the bodies of Stephen the first martyr, 
of Mcodemus who came to our Saviour by night, and 

1 Fleury's Eccl. Hist., book xxiii., chap. 19, 20. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



243 



of Gamaliel, the master of St. Paul. These remains, 
undoubtedly of some nameless persons, drew vast 
concourses on their exhibition, excited universal awe, 
and of course wrought numerous miracles, according 
to the invariable custom of relics in that age. 1 

In taking our final leave of John of Jerusalem, we 
must also bid adieu to one who has borne a still more 
conspicuous part in the events of this history. Je- 
rome died, very old, at Bethlehem, in the year 420 ; 
but the account we have already given of his life and 
conduct sufficiently exhibits his character, without the 
tediousness of a formal analysis. 

Of all the ancient Universalists, none is more respec- 
table for good sense and sober iudgment, 

& , , . e A A.D.420to 428. 

it we may rely on the opinion of modern 
critics, 2 than Theodorus, Bishop of Mopsuestia, a 
very eminent orthodox father, and a voluminous 
writer. Belonging to an illustrious Syrian family in 
Antioch, he was placed under the instruction of the 
renowned heathen sophist and critic, Libanius ; and 
then, in company with the celebrated Chrysostom, 
he studied divinity in the school of Diodorus, whom 
we have named as the Universalist Bishop of Tarsus. 
At the close of his studies, he appears to have been 
ordained a presbyter in his native city. Here, also, 
we soon afterwards find him engaged, with Chrysos- 
tom, instructing youths in a monastery, where he had 
the famous Nestorius for one of his pupils. In the 

1 Fleury's Eccl. Hist., book xxiii., chap. 22, 23. 

2 Beausobre (Hist, de Manichee. lib. i., chap. 4, torn, i., p. 288), Lardner, 
(Credibility, etc., chap. Theodorus of Mopsuestia), arid Mosheim (Eccl. Hist., cent, 
v., part ii., chap. 2, 3), speak in the highest terms of his useful talents and apparent 
sound judgment. 



244 



THE AXCIENT HISTORY 



year 392, a little before the death of his master Dio- 
dorus, he was appointed Bishop of Mopsuestia, which 
stood nearly forty miles eastward of Tarsus, and oc- 
cupied both banks of the river Pyramus. Here he 
passed a long episcopate of about thirty-six years, in 
composing numerous commentaries and polemical 
works ; maintaining, the mean while, the reputation 
of a distinguished preacher at Antioch, at Constanti- 
nople, and over all the East. 

Like his master, Diodorus, he followed the natural 
and simple mode of interpretation ; and it would 
seem, from some fragments, which alone have de- 
scended to us, of his writings, that he cultivated this 
method with more judgment than a large part even 
of our modern commentators. So much did he dislike 
the allegorical expositions of Origen, of whom he was 
no admirer, that he published a work against them. 1 
Though he held the tenets for which Pelagius was 
condemned, and though he was, perhaps, the source 
whence they were indirectly transmitted to that unfor- 
tunate heretic, yet his orthodoxy seems never to have 
been impeached during his lifetime. It appears, also, 
that he avowed with impunity the restoration of the 
wicked from hell, long after the contest with the Ori- 
genists had brought it into disrepute. "They," says 
he, "who have chosen the good, shall, in the future 
world, be blessed and honored. But the wicked, 
who have committed evil the whole period of their 
lives, shall be punished till they learn that, by con- 
tinuing in sin, they only continue in misery. And 

1 Facundi Hermianensis de Tribus Capit., lib. iii., cap. 6, inter Sirmondi Opp., 
torn, ii., p. 362. 



OF UNI VERS AL1SM. 



245 



when, by this means, they shall have been brought 
to fear God, and to regard him with good-will, they 
shall obtain the enjoyment of his grace. For, he 
never would have said, Until thou hast paid the utter- 
most farthing (Matt. v. 26), unless we could be re- 
leased from punishment, after having suffered ade- 
quately for sin; nor would he have said, He shall be 
beaten with many stripes, and again, He shall be beaten 
with few stripes (Luke xii. 47, 48), unless the punish- 
ments to be endured for sin will have an end." 1 We 
learn, also, from Photius, of the ninth century, who 
was one of the most trusty ecclesiastical critics of an- 
tiquity, that. he found, in another work of Theodoras, 
w the notion of Origen concerning the termination of 
the punishments of the future state." 2 

He maintained that the reason why God permitted 
sin was, that it would be ultimately made to subserve 
the good of mankind. 3 According to Photius, he held 
that Adam was created mortal : that mankind inherit 
no moral corruption from him ; that infants are born 
without sin ; and that mankind sin, not by nature, but 
by their free will ; or rather, he opposes the con- 
trary opinions, which, he says, were taught by some 
western Christians, alluding, probably, to Augustine 
and his party. 4 He was always a firm and steady op- 
poser of Arianism ; but it is suspected that he was the 
father of Nestorianism, a doctrine which arrived, 

1 Assemani Biblioth. Orient., torn, iii., par. i., p. 323. 

2 Photii Biblioth., Cod. 177. The work of Theodorus, which Photius here 
quotes, must have been written about as late as the year 420 ; since it .is evident, 
from its topics, that the Pelagian controversy had already made considerable 
noise even in the East. 

3 See Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat., 5th cent., art. Theodorus of Mopsuestia. 
* Photii Bib., Cod. 177. 



246 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



though in a blind and very circuitous way, to little 
else than the simple humanity of Jesus Christ. He 
died undisturbed, however, in the Catholic commun- 
ion, in a. d. 428, aged not far, probably, from seventy 
years. 

But after his death he was often reproached for bis 
Pelagianism, and for his connection with his scholar 
Nestorius ; and, in the middle of the next century he 
was anathematized, on the latter account, by the 
Fifth General Council. Accordingly, his works, for 
the most part, have either perished, or been preserved 
only in the Syriac language, among the Nestorians of 
the East. 1 

Directing our attention from Cilicia, down the 
Mediterranean coast to the Holy Land, 
'we discover that here Universalism pre- 
vailed, about this time, to a considerable extent 
among the monks, especially around Cesarea in 
Palestine. But the glimpse we obtain of the matter 
is casual and imperfect, and soon obstructed by sur- 
rounding darkness. We only know that Origenism 
had openly appeared in the country, with a numerous 
part} r of advocates ; and that the particulars, in their 
doctrine, which gave most offence, were the pre- 
existence of souls, and the universal restoration. 
Against both of these points, Euthymius, the chief 



1 Besides fragments of his writings among the acts of the Fifth General Council, 
in Facundus Hermianensis, and in Photius, it is supposed that the Commentary on 
the Psalms, under the name of Theodorus, in Catena Corderii, belongs to our 
author. It is said also that his Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets exist 
in manuscript in the Emperor's Library at Vienna, in the Library of St. Mark at 
Venice, and in the Library of the Vatican. These, however, form but a very 
small part of the ancient catalogue of his works. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



247 



abbot who then presided over the monasteries in the 
desert between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, opposed 
his utmost zeal and indignation, 1 but with what effect 

1 Vita Euthymii, per Cyrillum Scythopolitanum, inter Cotelerii Monumenta 
Grsec. Ecclesiae, torn, iv., p. 52. See also a Paraphrase on this work, hy Syraeon 
Metaphrastes, in torn. ii. a 

a Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus, in Syria, Historian, etc., was a TTniversalist. This 
fact has been clearly presented by the learned Prof. O. Cone, of the Divinity School 
of St. Lawrence University (N. Y.), in an article in the " Ambassador," noticed by 
Dr. T. B. Thayer, in the " Universalist Quarterly," for April, 1866. We extract 
from this notice some of the following statements : — 

Theodoret was born at Antioch, A. D. 393. He was educated in a monastery, 
having for fellow-pupils and special friends, Nestorius and John, afterwards 
Patriarchs of Constantinople and Antioch. His teacher in theology was Theodore, 
of Mopsuestia, Bishop, and renowned as a Universalist; and he learned eloquence 
and sacred literature with Chrysostom, the '"•golden-mouthed." He was conse- 
crated Bishop of Cyrus when thirty-four years of age. His diocese contained 
about eight hundred churches. Mosheim declares him to have been " eloquent, 
learned, skilled in every branch of theological learning; " and Dr. Murdoch, in his 
notes to Mosheim, says he was "frank, open-hearted, ingenuous, had elevated 
views and feelings, was resolute and unbending, yet generous, sympathetic, and 
ardently pious." He was involved in the Nestorian controversy, and the contro- 
versies growing therefrom, and was deposed from his see by the Council of 
Ephesus, A. D. 449, but was restored by the General Council held at Chalcedon, 
A. D. 451. He died A. d. 457. His works fill four vols, folio, reprinted in ten 
parts, 8vo, by Schulze (Halle, 1768 — 1774), and consist of Commentaries on many 
books of the Old Testament, and the whole of the Epistles of St. Paul; a History 
of the Church from A. D. 325 to A. d. 429, in five books; a Religious History, 
being lives of the Fathers of the Desert ; the Eranistes, a Dialogue against Eutych- 
ianism; a Concise History of Heresies, together with orations and a large number 
of letters, etc., etc. 

Theodoret belonged to the Antiochian school, — a school thus far little studied 
by modern theologians. To the same school also belonged Theodorus, Bishop 
of Mopsuestia, Diodorus of Tai'sus, Gregory of JSTyssa, etc., all Universalists. 

In one of his Orations on Providence (tenth), as quoted by Prof. Cone, he uses 
this language: " Wherefore he (Christ) says elsewhere, 'Now is the judgment 
of this world, now shall the Prince of this world be cast out.' For now that judg- 
ment has been established, he shall be condemned and. ejected from his sovereignty, 
as one who has unjustly withstood me. Then, teaching that he would free 
from the power of death not only his own body, but at the same time, the entire 
nature of the human race {pasan ton anthropon ten phusin), he presently adds, 
'And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me; ' for I will 
not suffer what I have undertaken, to raise the body only, but I will fully accom- 
plish the resurrection to all men. For it was for this that I came, and assumed 
the form of a servant, and as a lamb before its shearer, I opened not my mouth. 
The blessed Paul also speaks to the same effect, writing to the Colossians, and 
through them to all men : 1 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircum- 
cision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with himself, having forgiven you 



248 THE ANCIENT HISTORY 

we are not informed. It does not appear, however, 
that any of the party were arraigned, nor their tenets 
condemned. We naturally suspect that their faith 
had always lingered around the churches where 
Origen preached, and where Alexander, Theoctistus, 
and John presided ; and there is some reason to 
suppose that it continued to exist in the country 
till it broke out, as we shall learn, sixty or seventy 
years afterwards, and spread through a large part of 
Palestine. 

But, with a single exception that will be noticed 
at the close, we seek in vain, in the 

A. D. 450 to 500. . _ r» i_ t* 

remainder oi the present century, tor 
any traces of the doctrine, at least within the bounds 
of the Roman Empire. It had grown unpopular. 



all trespasses,' etc. From this we learn that he has paid the debt for us, and 
blotted out the handwriting that was against us, and having done these things, he 
quickened together with himself the entire nature of men." 

The resurrection of the entire nature of man is his resurrection into the higher 
life — into the image of the heavenly — into the spiritual perfectness of immor- 
tality. 

Prof. Cone says of Theodoret : " He gives this higher spiritual view of the res- 
urrection (anastasis) in his Commentary on Eph. i. 10: -For through the dispen- 
sation or incarnation of Christ, the nature of men arises ' (anistatai), or is resurrected, 
* and puts on incomiption? He does not say the bodies of men, but the ' nature ' 
(pbusis). is resurrected. In his further comments on this sublime passage, ' that 
in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all 
things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,' he says, ' and 
the visible creation shall be liberated from corruption, and shall attain incor- 
ruption, and the inhabitants of the invisible worlds shall live in perpetual joy, 
for grief and sadness and groaning shall be done away? " 

In the Comm. on Heb. ii. 9, ''that he. by the grace of G-od, should taste death 
for every man," Theodoret shows that Christ destroys the power of death, and 
secures our resurrection to incorruption and immortality, and quotes Romans 
viii. 21, and affirms that the angels shall be filled with joy at the completed work 
of Christ ; ' For if they rejoice on account of one sinner, much more shall they be 
filled with joy, seeing the salvation of so many myriads.'' For all, therefore, he 
(Christ) endured his saving passion." 

The length of this note must be excused. It could not be shorter, and place the 
facts fairly before the reader. — A. St. J. C. 



OF UNIVERSALIS^!. 



249 



For though it had not been judicially branded with 
the indelible mark of heresy, save when it embraced 
the salvation of the devil and his angels, yet even in 
its restricted form, as extending only to the restora- 
tion of all mankind, it had been pointed out as an 
obnoxious and kindred error ; and the repose of the 
public, as well as the quiet of the individual, 
must have suggested the prudence of concealment. 
Even the familiar name of Origenism almost wholly 
disappears during this period. 1 We may, indeed, 
discover a favorable disposition in the ecclesiastical 
historians, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret ; of 
whom, the two first defended the reputation of its 
former advocates, and the last neglected to insert 
it in his general catalogue of heresies. But on the 
other hand, it appears that Antipater, Bishop of Bostra 
in Arabia, undertook to refute the Apology of Pam- 
philus and Eusebius for Origen; and that, about the 

1 To this period, if not to a later, may perhaps he assigned the anonymous 
Apology for Origen in Jive books, which Photius describes (Biblioth., Cod. 117), 
without fixing its date. According to him, it was of little value. The author, it 
appears, mentioned Clemens Alexandrinus, Dionysius the Great, and even 
Demetrius, as witnesses in favor of Origen ; and he strove pai ticularly to defend 
Pamphilus and Eusebius, which shows that it was after they had been reproached 
for their Apology, perhaps by Jerome, perhaps by Antipater. He also acknowledged 
and maintained Ori gen's doctrine of pre-existence and some other heterodox notions ; 
hut he denied that Origen had been guilty of the following errors charged upon 
him : " That the Son is not to be invoked, is not absolutely good, and knows not the 
Father as he knows himself; that rational natures enter into brutes ; that there is 
a transmigration into different kinds of bodies ; that the soul *of Christ was that 
of Adam; that there is no eternal punishment for sinners, nor resurrection of the 
flesh; that magic is not evil, and that the influence of the stars governs our con- 
duct; that the only begotten Son will, hereafter, possess no kingdom; that the 
holy angels come into the world as fallen creatures, not to assist others; that the 
Father cannot be seen by the Son; that the Cherubim are merely the thoughts of 
the Son ; that Christ, the image of God, so far as he is the image, is not the true 
God." 



250 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



same time, a council at Eome, in a. d. 496, either 
gave or followed the example. 1 

But other and more interesting causes may be 
assigned for the silence which pervades 

A. D. 450 to 500. ° . . . , r 

the ecclesiastical writings of this period, 
with regard to Universalism. There is no wonder it 
should have been overlooked, or, if known to exist, 
that it should have been suffered to pass unnoticed, 
when subjects far different, and of the most distract- 
ing nature, engrossed the attention of all Christen- 
dom. The Roman Empire in the West was going 
to wreck amidst the boisterous and conflicting waves 
that rolled in upon it from the fierce North ; and it 
finally sank, under the repeated assaults of the 
barbarians, in the year 476. Odoacer, King of the 
Heruli, enjoyed the spoils, and stretched his sceptre 
over all Italy. Other conquerors advanced from 
the exhaustless regions of barbarism, and, in their 
turn, wrested the power from the recent victors. 
From Rome to Britain, from the Danube to Africa, 
all was a scene of anxiety and distress. Amidst the 
general commotion, the church beheld, with equal 
chagrin and fear, the exiled Arians return along with 
the invading hosts of their barbarian converts, and, 
under the patronage of the Huns, Goths, and Vandals, 
assume the pre-eminence in Italy, Gaul, and the 
African provinces. The Catholics now dreaded, and 
they sometimes felt, the scourge of retribution ; but 
they still retained sufficient spirit to wage, at intervals, 
a polemical contest with the Pelagians and Semi- 
Pelagians. The Roman pontiffs, however, had other 

1 Huet, Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 4, sect, ii., §§ 24, 25. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



251 



subjects of interest, in the terrible and shameful con- 
tentions that raged, with unprecedented violence and 
duration, in the eastern churches. 

The empire of the East, though little annoyed by 
foreign enemies, was agitated by the desperate quarrels 
of the clergy, who have left, on the records of this age, 
one of the blackest stains that disgrace the pages of 
ecclesiastical history. The great archbishopric of 
Egypt, which had hitherto maintained its superiority 
among the eastern diocesses, watched with an envious 
eye the growing influence of the new see of Constan- 
tinople, which was rapidly ascending to a rank next 
to that of Rome ; and the two successive prelates of 
Alexandria, who inherited the vices and the jealousy 
of Theophilus, had already shaken Nestorius, and after 
him Flavian, from the episcopal throne of the rival 
city, by means of some intricate questions concerning 
the union of the divine and human natures of Christ. 
All the East, from the Nile and the Bosphorus to the 
Euphrates, took sides for a long contest, in which 
honor and freedom were staked, and deposition and 
banishment were the penalty of failure. The artifices, 
the outrageous injustice, and shameless effrontery, 
which prevail in the most degenerate courts in times 
of violent faction, disgraced three General Councils, 1 
in quick succession, and procured for one of them, 
even in that age, an appellation which truly belonged 
to all, The Assembly of Robbers. The indignant 
spectator gladly turns from these deplorable scenes, 2 

1 At Ephesus, in A. D. 431 ; at the same place, in A. D. 449 ; and at Chalcedon, in 
A. D. 451. That in A. D. 449 is not reckoned, by the Catholics, among the General 
Councils, because the legates of the Pope were excluded. 

2 Of this contest Gibbon (Decline and Fall, etc., chap, xlvii.) has given a de- 



252 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



and we may only remark, that before the close of this 
century, the Nestorian, Eutychian, and Monophysite 
heresies were successively condemned, as they arose, 
and that amidst riots, intrigue, bribery, kicks and 
blows, was settled the present orthodox faith concern- 
ing the two natures of Christ : that his divinity and 
humanity are most intimately united in one person, 
while they are nevertheless distinct. 

Near the close of the century we find a single 
instance of Universalism, in the remote 
country, however, of Mesopotamia, and 
beyond the bounds of th« Eoman Empire. At 
Edessa, about seventy miles east of the upper waters 
of the Euphrates, and twenty-six north-west of the 
ancient Haran, 1 the abbot Stephan Bar-Sudaili 
presided over a cloister of monks, and maintained a 
distinguished reputation among those Christians who 
held the simple unity of the divine and human 
mature of Christ. But deviating, at length, from the 
common faith of his brethren, he proceeded to 
teach that future punishments will finally come to an 
end ; that wicked men and devils, having* been 
purified, will obtain mercy ; and that all things will 
be brought into unity with God, so that, as St. 
Paul expresses it, he shall become all in all. 2 
Whether he succeeded, to any extent, in propagating 
this doctrine among the churches of Mesopotamia and 

scription to the life, which, though slightly marked with his infidel irony, seems 
well supported, and does not differ materially from the narrative of the Catholic 
Fleury. (Eccl. Hist., book xxv. and onwards.) 

1 See Buckingham's Travels in Mesopotamia, etc., chap. iii. — v. 

2 Assemani Biblioth. Orient., torn, ii., pp. 30—33, 291. See, too, ISTeander'g re- 
marks, Allgemeine Geschichte der Christlich. Religion, u. s. w. 2n. Band 3te. 
Abtheil., §§ 793—795. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



253 



Syria, we are not informed. We only know that it 
soon called forth the complaints of some of his 
brethren, who stigmatized it as heresy ; 1 and that he 
left Edessa, and went into Palestine, — perhaps, to 
associate with the Origenists there. 

Nothing remains but to close with a passing notice 
of the Manicheans. Under this appellation, which 
had now grown somewhat indefinite, may be com- 
prehended about all the Gnostic Christians of this 
century; for the Priscillianists, who were numerous 
in Spain, and a few Marcionites, scattered in various 
parts, were often classed, and not very improperly, 
with the more genuine followers of Mani, who lurked 
in every quarter of Christendom. All of them had 
been led, by their intercourse with the Roman world, 
to modify their general system, and to omit some of 
their fables ; but they always adhered to their funda- 
mental doctrine of two original Principles, the distinct 
causes of good and evil. On one solitary point we 
may prefer their views to those entertained by a large 
part of the orthodox ; they contemplated the Deity in 
the unchangeable character of universal and perfect 
benevolence. This important sentiment, together 
with their fanciful notion concerning the divine emana- 
tion of all souls, would naturally incline them to 
expect the eventual recovery of human nature ; but 
how far they approached towards this conclusion docs 
not distinctly appear. They still retained enough of 
their oriental peculiarities to render them intolerable 
to the Greek and Roman sects ; and, while the cruel 



1 Assemani Bib. Orient., torn, i., p. 303; torn, ii., pp. 30 — 33. 



254 



THE ANCIENT HISTOEY 



laws of persecution compelled them to the most care- 
ful concealment, the sharp-sighted zeal of the bishops 
and governors often detected them through all their 
disguises. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



255 



CHAPTER IX. 

FROM A. D. 500 TO A. D. 554. 

The opening scene of our narrative lies in the 
barren solitude between Jerusalem and Bethlehem on 
the west, and the sunken coast of the Dead Sea, or 
Lake Asphaltites, on the east. The wild and austere 
features of desolation, which pervade this mountainous 
desert, will readily occur to every one who has 
attentively studied the geography of Palestine. But 
it can scarcely be accounted a useless interruption, 
if we pause here to take a more careful and particular 
view of a region so full of interest, and which retains 
to this day nearly the same appearance it wore in the 
sixth century. 

Beginning our survey at the north-eastern extremity, 
and standing on some elevated spot, if such there be, 
in the fields adjacent to the once flourishing Jericho, 
we should find ourselves in the midst of an uneven 
plain, of great length and considerable breadth. Its 
fertility departed, ages ago, with the banished tribes, 
and left little remains on the parched surface, except 
a kind of spiny grass, and a few detached groves and 
plantations. Two leagues to the east the plain is 
divided by the reedy and shrub-covered banks of the 
Jordan, whose turbid waters hasten along through a 
narrow channel towards their entrance into the Dead 



256 



THE ANCIENT EISTORY 



Sea. If we turn around, so as to face the north, we 
behold the level country lose itself in the distance. 
But close at hand appears the miserable village of 
Arab huts, which occupy a little space on the site of 
the ancient J ericho ; and several spots of beautiful 
vegetation, here and there improved into gardens, 
mark the course which the streams from Elisha's 
Fountain, a little distant, still maintain through the 
surrounding barrenness. If we cast our eyes to the 
west, the huge, precipitous mountain of Quarantania, 
at the distance of only three miles, stands full before 
us, and lifts to heaven those naked cliffs, whence, 
tradition says, the tempter showed our Saviour all the 
kingdoms of this world. Looking past the southern 
side of the mountain, we discover a little farther off, 
in the way to Jerusalem, the wild congregation of 
barren hills that form the boundary of the plain. 
Rising just behind the first range, are seen tops of 
rifted and shapeless mountains, among whose deep 
and tremendous ravines lies, hidden from our view, 
the Desert of the Temptation. Far in the rear, 
beyond a succeeding tract of less elevation, and of 
less sterility, we might perhaps descry, through some 
fortunate opening, the low, triple summits of Mount 
Olivet, at the distance of eighteen miles to the south- 
west, shutting out the city of Jerusalem from the 
eastern prospect. 

As we turn round to the left,. from the quarter of 
Mount Olivet, with our backs upon Jericho, the eye 
still ranges along the broken mass of hills, a few 
miles southward, where the plain terminates at their 
bases, or is invaded by their more advanced and sep- 



OF UNIVERSALISM, 



257 



arate crags. Beyond them, we catch the glimpse of 
remoter eminences, appearing here and there above 
the horizon, and by their dismal whiteness betraying 
the solitude and decay which reign in the interior. 
Traversing, with a sidelong glance, the successive 
ridges down to the left, as they approach the Dead 
Sea, we perceive their height gradually increasing to 
the very brink, where they suddenly fall off, to make 
room for the bed of the lake. The lake itself may 
be seen, still farther around to the eastward, coming 
up into the limits of the plain ; and nothing but an 
intervening promontory shuts out, from our eye, the 
whole expanse of waters spreading southward to un- 
discernible distance. 

From our post of observation it is but five or six 
miles, over a sandy tract, to the nearest part of the 
Dead Sea ; and if, quitting the fields of Jericho, we 
now proceed thither, and follow the shore down to 
the south, we come at length to the mountainous 
border already surveyed. Here we enter on a wide 
beach, which runs the whole remaining length, per- 
haps, of the lake, between the margin of the waves 
and the lofty battlement of cliffs on the west. Ad- 
vancing along this desolate valley, we traverse heaps 
of sand, and patches of dry mud, covered thick with 
salt ; and sometimes a solitary and stunted shrub 
shakes the dust from its scanty foliage, in the wind. 
On our right, we see the towering masses of rock still 
bearing onward, but frequently broken by huge chasms 
that wind in many intricacies through their heavy 
range. The dreary lake now spreads full before us 
to the south ; but its extremity is beyond the reach 



258 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



of the eye. To the east, however, we see its con- 
tracted breadth, at the distance of ten or fifteen miles, 
bounded by the dark, and to appearance, perpendicu- 
lar mountains of Arabia, which stand on the opposite 
shore like a stupendous wall. Not a solitary peak 
seems to break the uniformity of their continuous 
summit; we only perceive slight inflections, here and 
there, as though the hand of the painter, who drew 
this horizontal line across the sky, had sometimes 
trembled in the bold execution. 

After following the wide strand or valley for six or 
eight miles to the south, we may turn to the right, 
and seek our way up the precipices. Arrived at the 
summit of the range, the whole country, as far as 
Mount Olivet in the north-west, the hills of Bethle- 
hem in the West, and those of Tekoa in the south- 
west, bursts at once in desolate majesty upon our 
sight. Plains and narrow glens without verdure or 
inhabitant, hills whose aged rocks are themselves 
decaying into dust, sharp ridges and misshapen points 
in the distance, fill up the scene. Throughout a large 
part of this tract the spirit of religious madness, of 
fanatical seclusion, might find accommodations in the 
profound labyrinths channelled out between solid cliffs, 
and in numerous caverns, some of them almost inac- 
cessible. Even close around the summit on which we 
stand we may look down into chasms that sink to the 
very base. 

If we look to the north, the plain of Jericho ap- 
pears ; if to the south, the concourse of mountains 
stretches off beyond the outlet of the Cedron, and 
finally fades in the prospect amidst the vast Desert of 



OF UNIVEKSALISM. 



259 



Ruba. Below us, to the west, extends a considera- 
bly wide plain, through which, in ancient times, lay 
the road from Jericho to Hebron. Descending from 
the heights and crossing this open space westwardly, 
our course runs among little hillocks of chalk and 
sand, and some scattered patches of herbage ; till, at 
the end of three miles, we come to the boundary. 
Here we begin to climb through the narrow gorges of 
another chain of mountains, white, arid, and dusty ; 
and not a solitary shade, not a plant, not even the 
last effort of vegetation, a single tuft of moss, meets 
the eye as we proceed. Four or five miles in the 
same direction brings us to the edge of the long, tre- 
mendous chasm, through which, in the rainy season, 
gushes the torrent Cedron, on its south-eastward 
course from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. Through a 
sudden opening, that city itself may be descried, 
looking like a confused heap of rocks, nearly a dozen 
miles to the north-west ; and the naked summits that 
rise on every quarter above us command a prospect 
of the eastern lake. Proceeding now a small dis- 
tance up the channel of the Cedron, we discover, in 
its very bed, and two or three hundred feet below us, 
the ancient monastery of St. Sabas, surrounded with 
numerous cells in the precipices, and still occupied as 
a convent. 1 

1 For the account of this region, see Relandi Palaestina Illustrata ; Pococke's 
Description of the East, vol. ii., part 1. pp. 30— 45 ; Sandys's Travels, book iii., 
Maundrell's Journey to Jerusalem; Dr. E. D. Clark's Travels through Greece, 
Egypt, and the Holy Land, chap. 17, 18; and Chateaubriand's Travels, part iii., 
Several striking hints may be gathered from Cyrilli Scythopolitani Vita S. Saba*, 
inter Coteleri Mon. Eccl. Graecae, torn. iii. See, also, as the best work on Pales- 
tine, Robinson's Biblical Researches, etc. 



260 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



At the beginning of the sixth century, this great 
solitude had long been peopled with monks. 
Many lauras, or collections of recluse cells 
and caverns, were prepared in different quarters ; and 
monasteries, or regular convents, were erected in 
other parts. Of the former, the most famous, at this 
period, was the laura of St. Sabas, the remains of 
which we have just surveyed. It was founded, less 
than twenty years before, by the distinguished abbot 
of that name ; and five or six thousand monks had 
already gathered in the deep channel of the Cedron, 
under the protection of his reputed miracles and 
sanctity. A very successful struggle, of more than 
fifty years, against every natural mode of human 
existence, had conferred on Sabas a venerable pre- 
eminence over the whole desert ; and a mild and 
patient temper gave his authority a sort of fatherly 
character. With these qualifications, it is no wonder 
that the scrupulous exactness of his faith, the 
wretchedness of his appearance, and the supposed 
gifts of commanding rain from heaven, and of shutting 
the mouths of wild beasts, should make him known 
abroad, in that age, as "the light and ornament of all 
Palestine." 

Between the years 501 and 506, an old 1 difficulty 
broke out anew in the midst of his own 
A D * ~ laura. Forty of his monks became 
greatly dissatisfied ; and he, who seldom contended 
with opposition, left the place and retired to a cave 
near Scythopolis. After a while he returned ; but 
finding the malcontents increased now to the number 

» Vit. SabsB, cap. 19. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM . 201 

of sixty, and grown utterly irreconcilable, he again 
departed. This sudden and unexpected absence 
gave his enemies occasion to flatter themselves, at 
least to report, that he was devoured by wild beasts ; 
and, going to Jerusalem, they entreated Elias, the 
bishop of that city, to appoint them another abbot. 
Their report, however, did not gain credit ; and Elias 
was by no means disappointed, when, some time 
afterwards, he beheld Sabas himself, with several 
disciples from his new retirement, enter the Holy City, 
on the anniversary festival of the Dedication of the 
Temple. The bishop solemnly adjured him to return 
to his laura, and wrote a letter to the monks there, 
commanding them to receive him with honors, and 
submit to his authority. But when Sabas arrived and 
produced the letter in public, the disaffected rose in 
rebellion, assailed one of the buildings in their wrath, 
and overthrew it into the torrent. The rioters, to the 
number of sixty, then took their course over the hills, 
south-westwardly, to the laura of Succa, probably 
about eight or ten miles distant. 1 Applying there 
in vain for admittance, they proceeded onwards, till 
they entered the deep valley under the southern side 
of the hill on which stood the ruined village of Tekoa. 
Here, finding a little water, and some old forsaken 
cells, they took~ up their abode, and called the place 
Nova Laura, or the new laura. 2 Having no church, 

1 The laura of Succa was not far from Tekoa, either to the north or to the south 
(compare Vit. Sabse, cap. 36, with Vit. Cyriaci, inter Cotelerii Mon. Eccl. Graecae, 
torn. iv. pp. 117, 118) ; but in which of these directions cannot be determined. The 
form of the expression, however, in Vit. Sabae, seems to intimate that it was 
towards the laura of Sabas from Tekoa. 

2 1 think Nova Laura must have been in what is now called Wady Jehar. (See 
Robinson's Bib. Researches, vol. ii., p. 185.) It was in a deep valley, not far to the 
eouth of Tekoa. 



262 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



they were obliged, for a while, to hold their public 
exercises in an old one at Tekoa, dedicated to the 
ancient prophet Amos, once an inhabitant of this 
village. 1 Sabas, having obtained iiiformation of the 
place of their retreat, visited them with necessary 
supplies ; and procuring afterwards, from Elias, at 
Jerusalem, a sum of gold for the purpose, he built 
them a church, and dedicated it in a. d. 507. 

A. D. 507. . 

His beneficence seemed to reconcile them ; 
and they allowed him to place over their laura a 
superior, who governed it in quiet for seven years. 2 
On the death of this overseer, his successor ad- 
mitted, through ignorance it is said, four 

A. D. 514. . . 

Origenists ; of whom the chief were Nonnus, 
whose earlier history is entirely unknown, and one 
Leontius of Byzantium, or Constantinople. Their 
distinguishing tenet appears to have been the pre- 
existence of human souls ; but to this it seems we 
must add that of universal restoration. 3 Both these 



1 Amos i. 1. 

2 Vit. Sabae, cap. 33—36. 

3 That Nonnus and Leontius were Universalists is not absolutely certain, though 
very probable. I here subjoin the best evidence I have found of the fact : 1. 
Symeon Metaphrastes, a Greek writer of the tenth century, who recomposed the 
lives of the saints from the original documents, but who is by no means indisputa- 
ble authority, adduces, in his Life of Cyriacus (Cotelerii Mon. Eccl. Graecse, torn, 
iv., pp. 117, 118), the testimony of Cyrill, of Scythopolis, a credible witness, that 
Normus and Leontius avowed the doctrines of pre-existence and universal resto- 
ration. 2. Cyrill himself, who, by the way, was a monk of Sabas's laura, and a 
cotemporary of ISTonnus and Leontius, invariably represents them as teaching pre- 
existence; and he also says (Vit. Sabae, cap. 36) that they derived it from Origen, 
Evagrius, and Didymus. Now, in the doctrine of these fathers the two notions 
of pre-existence and restoration were so inseparably connected, as the beginning 
and end of their system, that whoever followed them in one could hardly avoid 
adopting the other. 3. Domitian, Archbishop of Galatia, a convert and patron of 
Nonnus and Leontius, was certainly an advocate of both these notions (Facundi 
Hermianensis Defens. Trium Capit. inter Sinnondi Opp., torn, ii., pp. 384, 385); 
and Facundus, a cotemporary, observes that it was particularly on account of these 



or universalis:.!. 



263 



opinions, however, remained undiscovered, at least 
unreproved, for about six months ; when a new 
superior, the third in succession, being appointed 
at Nova Laura, soon detected the alarming doctrine, 
and, by the authority of Elias of Jerusalem, expelled 
the believers. They retired to other parts of the 
country, and propagated their sentiments 
in silence. Two or three years afterwards, 
Elias himself was deposed amid some of the ecclesias- 
tical revolutions which, in the East, yet followed the 
Nestorian controversy of the preceding century ; and 
when John succeeded to the bishopric of Jerusalem, 
the Origenists came and asked to be restored to their 
laura. But he, being informed by Sabas of their 
heresy, denied their request. Leontius, indeed, was 
received, at length, into the great laura of Sabas 
himself; but, the moment he became known, the aged 
father drove him away. 

Better fortune, however, awaited the outcasts : Not 
many years afterwards, one Mamas, on succeeding 
to the care of Nova Laura, admitted, it seems without 
hesitation, 1 Nonnus, Leontius, and their party to the 
cordial fellowship of the brotherhood. There fol- 
lowed such an increase of Origemsm in the country 
as to produce considerable uneasiness ; and an oppor- 
tunity soon offered of introducing the affair to the 
attention of the ambitiously orthodox emperor Jus- 
tinian. Some public grievances rendering it necessary 

tenets that his party was accused. Several other circumstances might be men- 
tioned in favor of their Universalism ; and nothing, so far as I know, can be found 
to the contrary. 

1 Cyrill says (Vita Sabas) that Mamas did not know their sentiments ; but how 
could he be ignorant, after the previous disturbances ? 



264 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



to send an agent to the court of Constantinople, the 
bishops of Palestine unanimously deputed Sabas, 
whose sanctity had long been venerated in the im- 
perial palace, and known throughout all the East. 
He accordingly visited the capital ; and, having ac- 
complished his business, was about to take 

A. D. 531. 1 

his leave, when the doting emperor humbly 
asked what revenues he should bestow on the 
monasteries and lauras of the desert, in order to 
secure their prayers for himself and his government. 
" Grant the petitions that I have brought," replied 
the abbot, "and in recompense God will add to 
your dominions, Africa, Eome, and the whole of the 
western empire; upon one condition, however, — 
that you deliver the churches from the three heresies 
of Arius, Nestorius, and Origen." The obedient 
emperor loaded him with gifts, promised whatever he 
desired, and anathematized those heresies ; but 
whether he then issued any special decree against 
them does not appear. 1 

Sabas died at his laura, in the end of the year 531, 

soon after his return from Constantinople ; 

and the Origenists of Nova Laura, feeling 
themselves relieved from the oppression of his great 
authority, began to propagate their doctrine with less 
reserve. Their success was, if possible, more than 
proportioned to their zeal. In a short time they 
converted all the most learned in their own cells, 
placed their partisans over some of the neighboring 
monasteries, spread their opinions through several 

1 Vit. Sabse, cap. 36; and 70 — 74. Fleury's Eccl. History, book xxxiii., chap. 3. 



OF UNIVEESALISM. 



265 



large communities of monks in the desert, and 
established them even in the great laura of Sabas. 

Among their adherents, perhaps among the new 
converts, were two persons, introduced now for the 
first time to our notice, who afterwards rose to consid- 
erable eminence, and bore a distinguished part in the 
ecclesiastical history of the period. Domitian was 
abbot of a monastery in a desert ; and Theodoras As- 
cidas was deacon, or one of the principal officers, of 
Nova Laura. Both were Origenists ; both, probably, 
Universalists, — such, at least, did Domitian avow 
himself. 1 Going, about this time, to Constantinople, 
they were accompanied by Nonnus andLeontius ; and, 
through the recommendation of the latter, who seems 
to have had some influence in his native city, our two 
adventurers obtained the patronage of Eusebius, a fa- 
vorite bishop at court. By his means, they were then 
introduced to the emperor himself ; and, concealing 
their sentiments and peculiar attachments, they so far 
won the partiality of Justinian, that he placed them over 
the two extensive bishoprics in . Asia Minor. Domi- 
tian was elevated to that of Galatia, and immediately 
ordained at its metropolitan city, Ancyra ; Theodoras 
Ascidas, at Cesarea, in the large and influential see 

1 Facundus, a cotemporary author, says (Defens. Trium. Capitul. lib. iv., cap. 4, 
inter Sirmondi Opp., torn, ii., pp. 384, 385 : " Domitian, formerly Bishop of Ancyra 
in Galatia, writing a hook to Pope Vigilius, complained of those who contradicted 
the doctrine of Origen, that human souls existed before the body in a certain 
happy state, and that all who are consigned to everlasting torments shall be re- 
stored, together with the devil and his artgels, to their primeval blessedness. 
Domitian also asserts that 4 they have, even anathematized the most holy and re- 
nowned doctors, on account of those tilings which were agitated in favor of pre- 
existence and universal restoration. This they have done under pretence of con- 
demning Origen; but in reality condemning all the saints who were before him, 
and who have been after Mm. ,n This book of Domitian was written, probably, 
about the year 546, or a little after. 



266 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



of Cappadocia, was seated on the same episcopal throne 
which had been honored by the ancient, and perhaps 
more worthy, fathers, Firmilian and Basil the Great. 
Neither of the new prelates, it would seem, spent 
much of their time in their respective dioceses ; but, 
following the fashion of that age, resorted, among a 
crowd of other bishops, to the court of Constantino- 
ple, and there engaged in the intrigues of the palace 
and of the church. Theodorus long maintained a con- 
siderable ascendency over the measures, though not 
over the faith, of the royal polemic himself, and fre- 
quently perverted the imperial authority to purposes, 
which, if discovered, would have been instantly con- 
demned. Amidst the honors to which he had been 
advanced, and the splendor with which he was sur- 
rounded, he did not forget his old associates in the 
solitude of Palestine, but continued to exert in their 
behalf all the influence he dared to employ in such a 
cause. Nor were they, on their part, unconscious of 
the increased advantages they might derive from the 
countenance, however cautiously granted, of two 
powerful friends at court. Emboldened by the pat- 
ronage, and encouraged by their good fortune, the 
Origenists labored with redoubled energy, and in a 
short time succeeded in diffusing their doctrine through 
the whole of Palestine ; an undertaking which was the 
more readily accomplished on account of the former 
prevalence of Origenism in the country. 1 

About five years after the death of Sabas, his second 
successor, Gelasius, on being elected over the great 
laura, determined to check the prevailing heresy 

i Vit. Sabae, cap. 77—83. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



267 



among his own flock ; and, to this end, he consulted a 
few of his yet orthodox brethren, and appointed the 
Treatise of Antipater of Bostra against Origen, to be 
read publicly in the church. But this indignity only 
provoked a disturbance : and Gelasius soon 

n , . . . t • t A. D. 537. 

round it necessary, m prosecuting his scheme, 
to expel some of the leaders of the opposition, among 
whom was one of his deacons. It was too late, how- 
ever, for violent measures ; the expulsion of their 
leaders roused the spirit of the rest, and forty others 
were soon afterwards driven away. The outcasts re- 
paired immediately to Nova Laura, where they en- 
joyed the protection of Nonnus, Leontius, and their 
brethren, and assisted in propagating their faith among 
the various monasteries in the neighborhood. 1 The 
next 3 r ear, Eusebius, the episcopal courtier who had 
introduced Domitian and Theodoras to Justinian, hap- 
pened at Jerusalem : and Leontius, in com- 

A. D. 538. 

pany with the outcasts from the great laura, 
embraced the opportunity to carry before him a com- 
plaint against the abbot, for their expulsion. The 
haughty bishop assumed the seat of judgment ; and, 
sending for Gelasius, ordered him either to receive the 
Origenists, or else to expel their accusers. The timid, 
or perhaps politic, abbot returned, upon this, to the 
laura of Sabas, and, choosing the latter alternative, 
dismissed six of his orthodox monks, probably with 
their own consent. These, however, went directly to 
Antioch, related to Ephraim, the powerful archbishop 

1 Cyrill's story (Vit. Saba?, cap. 84) of their hostile expedition for the purpose 
of destroying the great laura, of the supernatural darkness which blinded and 
misled them so that they could not find the well-known place, etc., is incredible, 
unless we admit with him the miraculous interference of the deceased Sabas. 



268 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



of that city, the affair of Origenisni in Palestine, and 
showed him the books of Antipater of Bostra against 
the doctrine. Ephraim immediately called a provin- 
cial synod at Antioch, and procured, for the first time 
since the days of Theophilus and Jerome, an anathema 
against the heresy ; but on what particular points is 
unknown. 

When the news of this procedure reached Palestine, 
the Origenists were, of course, alarmed. Leontius had 
sailed for Constantinople ; but Nonnus went to Peter, 
the present Bishop of Jerusalem, and importuned him 
to erase the name of Ephraim from the sacred diptychs,' 
or official registers of bishops in fellowship and com- 
munion. Leontius at Constantinople also exerted his 
influence to procure the excommunication of the Arch- 
bishop of Antioch ; and Domitian and Theodoras 
strove to compel the Patriarch of Jerusalem to execute 
the proposed measure. Already was there a strong 
disaffection against Peter among the monks of the 
desert ; and, to screen himself from the indignation 
which it was easy to foretell the course he had 
adopted would arouse, he contrived to procure some 
of the orthodox abbots to write a tract against Ori- 
genism, and in favor of Ephraim of Antioch. This 
was accordingly composed, and presented to him ; 
and Peter immediately directed it, together with some 
writings of his own, pointing out the heresies and the 
disorders of the Origenists, to the Emperor Justinian 
at Constantinople. The monks entrusted with these 
documents arrived at the imperial city, attached them- 
selves to the deacon, Pelagius, legate from the Pope 
of Eome, and an enemy to Theodoras ; and, by their 



OF UNIVERSAL ISM. 



269 



united exertions, soon succeeded in laying the matter 
in form before the emperor. 1 

Justinian, who had now sat about a dozen years on 
the throne of the eastern empire was one of the few 
sovereigns whose ruling ambition has been to shine in 
theological disputes, and to acquire, by superior or- 
thodoxy and austere mortifications, the proud epithet 
of The Pious. Nothing could be more gratifying, 
than this reference of the affair of Origenism to his 
judgment and decision. He lost no time, therefore, 
in ordering a long Edict to be drawn up, addressed to 
Mennas. Archbishop of Constantinople, 

A. D. 539—540. 

and published as early as the year 540. 
"We are told," says he, "of some who, not having 
the fear of God before their eyes, have forsaken 
the truth, without which there is no salvation, and 
departed from the doctrine of the Scriptures and of 
the Catholic fathers, by adhering to Origen, and main- 
taining his impious notions, which are like those of 
the Arians, Manicheans, and other heretics." He 
then proceeds to recount, in a formal catalogue, 
and under six heads, the errors attributed to Ori- 
gen : "1. That the Father is greater than the Son, 
and the Son greater than the Holy Ghost, as the Holy 
Ghost is superior to other spirits ; and that the Son 
cannot behold the Father, nor the Holy Ghost see the 
Son. 2. That the power of God is limited, because 
he can create and govern only a certain number of 
souls, and a certain quantity of matter ; that every 
species of being was co-eternal with the Deity ; that 
there have already been, and that there will hereafter 

1 Vit. Sabee, cap. 85, and Fleury's Eccl. Hist., book xxxiii., chap. 3, 4. 



270 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



be, several worlds in succession, so that the Creator 
has never been without creatures. 3. That rational 
spirits were clothed with bodies, only for their punish- 
ment ; and that the souls of men, in particular, were at 
first pure and holy intelligences, who, becoming weary 
of divine contemplation, and inclining to evil, were 
confined in earthly bodies, as a retribution and chas- 
tisement of their former follies. 4. That the sun, the 
moon, the stars, and the waters above the heavens, 
are animated and rational creatures. 5. That, in the 
resurrection, human bodies will be changed into a 
spherical shape. 6. That wicked men and devils will 
at length be discharged from their torments, and re- 
established in their original state." Each of these 
six errors, Justinian attempts to refute by authori- 
ties from the Scriptures and the fathers ; but he directs 
his labors more particularly against the third, con- 
cerning pre-existence, and against the sixth, concern- 
ing the restoration. Then, addressing Mennas, he 
adds, f ' We therefore exhort you to assemble all the 
bishops and abbots of Constantinople, and oblige 
them to anathematize in writing the impious Origen 
Adamantius, together with his abominable doctrines, 
and especially the articles we have pointed out. 
Send copies of what shall be transacted, to all other 
bishops and to all superiors of monasteries, that they 
may follow the example ; and, for the future, let 
there be no bishops nor abbots ordained, who do not 
first condemn Origen and all other heretics, according 
to custom. We have already written thus to Pope 
Vigilius, and to the rest of the patriarchs." After a 
collection of heretical extracts from the books of Ori- 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



271 



gen, the emperor subjoins nine anathemas ; six against 
the forementionecl errors ; and three against the fol- 
lowing on the incarnation. "1. That the human 
soul of Jesus Christ existed long before it was united 
to the Word; 2. That his body was formed, in the 
Virgin, before its union either with the Word, or with 
his own soul; and 3. That he will, hereafter, be cru- 
cified for the salvation of the devils." To conclude, 
there is a tenth anathema against the person of Origen 
and against those of his followers. 1 

This sweeping decree, which aimed full against 
Universalism, went forth, of course, as a law of the 
realm; and Justinian's ambition to shine in the church 
conspired with his natural jealousy as a sovereign, to 
ensure the rigid enforcement of his orders. Accord- 
ingly, the bishops then residing at Constantinople 
were immediately assembled in council, by the Patri- 
arch Mennas, to subscribe the Edict ; and soon after- 
wards, Pope Vigilius at Rome, Zoilus on the archi- 
npiscopal throne of Alexandria, Ephraim at Antioch, 
and Peter at Jerusalem, obeyed the mandate and fol- 
lowed the example. Even Domitian of Ancyra and 
Theodoras of Cappadocia, though favorites, were 
obliged to yield to the imperial command ; and, 
rather than suffer expulsion, they affixed their names 
to the anathemas which condemned some of their own 
sentiments. 9 

1 See Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat., vol. v., art. Hist, of Fifth General Council. And 
Fleury's Eccl. Hist., book xxxiii., chap. 4. I know not where to look for an 
entire copy of this very important document, Justinian's Edict to Mennas, except 
in Harduin's Concilia, torn, iii., p. 243; and this valuable collection is out of my 
reach. 

2 Fleury's Eccl. Hist., book xxxiii., ch. 4. And Du Pin's Biblioth. Patrum, vol. v., 
art. Hist, of Fifth Gen. Council. 



272 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



In Palestine, however, there were some bold and 
determined enough to withstand the 
emperor's authority. - Alexander, Bishop 
Abyla, 1 who is known only by the part he bore in 
this affair, refused to subscribe the decree ; and 
Nonnus, together with his party in general, remained 
faithful to their cause, at the expense of exclusion 
from the Catholic communion, and of banishment from 
Nova Laura. But their powerful patron, Theoclorus 
of Cappadocia, soon heard of their treatment ; and, 
sending for certain agents of the church of Jerusalem 
who resided at Constantinople, he angrily threatened 
to deprive their bishop, Peter, of his see, unless he 
should give satisfaction to the outcasts, and restore 
them to their former standing. At the same time, he 
sent to Xonnus and his adherents, advising them to 
propose to their bishop a sort of compromise, in which 
he should only pronounce some indefinite form of 
words, annulling, in general terms, all anathemas 
which were not agreeable to the will of God. As the 
real and manifest intent, however, of this equivocal 
formality, was to imply a censure of the emperor's 
late Edict, Peter at first refused; but, fearing the 
dangerous influence of Theodorus at court, he at 
length privately pronounced the sentence, readmitted 
the Origenists into their laura, and finally appointed 
two of their leading members his suffragans, or 
bishops in immediate attendance on his person. 
Emboldened by the success of this attempt, the parti- 



1 There were several cities or villages, by the name of Abyla, or Abila, in the 
northern part of Palestine (See Relandi Palaest. Illust.), and this was probably one 
of them. 



OF UNIVERSALIS^!. 



273 



sails of No iiims did not hesitate openly to preach their 
doctrine from house to house. It would have been 
honorable to them had they proceeded no farther. 
But, remembering with resentment the indignities 
they had suffered from the orthodox, they unhappily 
turned back upon them the tide of contempt and 
abuse. Disputes and violent altercations were 
quickly succeeded by blows, which fell, of course, on 
the Catholic or weaker party, for whom it soon be- 
came unsafe to appear abroad, especially in the city 
of Jerusalem. Finding their numbers unequal to the 
quarrel, they procured a reinforcement of a savage 
race of monks from the banks of the Jordan. When 
these arrived at the Holy City, and joined the ortho- 
dox host, an engagement ensued ; but the Origenists 
succeeded at last in putting them all to flight, and in 
driving them as far as the great laura of Sabas. 
Here, the vanquished retreated into a fortified place, 
and their pursuers were, in their turn, obliged to fly, 
after one of the most valorous of their enemies had 
fallen, the only victim of the combat. 

The public had long been too familiar with scenes 
of this shameful character, to regard them with the 
abhorrence they merited ; and it was probably the 
urgent motive of self-preservation, alone, which in- 
duced the remnant of the orthodox, in the present 
exigency, to seek the prevention of these disorders. 
Accordingly, Gelasius, the abbot of the great laura, 
set out on a journey to Constantinople, in order to 
lay the affair before Justinian. But Theodorus of 
Cappadocia, having notice of his arrival, contrived 
to prevent all access to the emperor, so that, after 

18 



274 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



several ineffectual attempts, G-elasius was obliged to 
depart without accomplishing his purpose. Return- 
ing towards Palestine, he died at a small city in 
Phrygia ; and with him expired, for a season, the 
hopes of the orthodox party in the desert of Judea. 
For, when the monks of the great lama went to 
Jerusalem to ask the appointment of a new abbot, 
the suffragans of Peter, imitating the cunning of The- 
odoras, drove them away ; and immediately all the 
monastic communities in that region, yielding to the 
strong popular current, were carried over, by flattery 
or by fear, to the side of Origenism. Even the great 
laura itself submitted, soon afterwards, to an abbot 
appointed by the dominant party ; and the few ortho- 
dox leaders in the place forsook their long-venerated 
cells, and sought other retreats. But the very day 
on which the triumphant Origenists saw the feeble 
remnant of their opposers retire, called them also to 
mourn the sudden and unexpected death 

A. D. 546. 

of Xonnus, at Nova Laura. This loss was 
the more severely felt, as Leontius, the other chief 
of the party, had died, a year or two before, at Con- 
stantinople. What was the real character of these 
two persons, and what their abilities, we have no 
satisfactory means to ascertain. That they had con- 
siderable influence among the monks is evident ; and 
that they were feared and hated by their opposers is 
certain. Should we judge of them, however, by their 
cotemporaries, we could boast neither of their intel 
ligence, nor of their peaceable and Christian temper. 
Xonnus had the satisfaction of leaving their cause, 
though proscribed by the government, in a very 



OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



275 



prosperous condition throughout Palestine. At the 
great laura of Sabas, however, the orthodox regained 
an ascendancy, seven months after his death, and 
appointed a new abbot ; who was succeeded, in less 
than a year, by Conon, another of their most enter- 
prising leaders. The loss of this important place 
seemed, soon afterwards, more than made up to the 
Origenists, by a fortunate acquisition on their part : 
Peter, who had always opposed them, died ^ ^ ^ 
about this time ; and, by their influence, 
their friend, Macarius, was chosen his successor in 
the bishopric of Jerusalem. But their affairs re- 
mained, for five or six years, unstable and fluctuat- 
ing. A sedition followed the election of the new 
prelate, and Justinian commanded him to be expelled 
from his see. What was still more injurious to their 
interests, the Origenists themselves had abused their 
success, and suffered prosperity to cherish a factious 
spirit, which divided them, on some trivial question, 
into hostile parties. 1 

Meanwhile an artful plot was contrived and put in 
execution, at Constantinople ; the particu- 
lars of which it is necessary to relate, al- 
though they have no other bearing on the doctrine of 
Universal Salvation, than as they led, eventually, to 
the assembling of the Fifth General Council. Theo- 
doras of Cappadocia had not forgotten the malicious 
interference of Pelagius, in procuring the late impe- 
rial Edict against Origen and his doctrines, and he 
resolved to retaliate upon his enemy, by taking advan- 
tage of some unsettled affairs in the old Nestorian 

1 Vit. Saba?, cap. 86—90, Fleury's Eccl. Hist., book xxxiii., ch. 20, 40. 



276 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



controversy. He happened to belong to a party that 
hated the memory of the General Council of Chalce- 
don, held in the middle of the last century ; while the 
Roman legate, on the contrary, zealously supported 
its authority and cherished its reputation. To impair 
its credit, and to vex its advocates, Theodorus con- 
trived to procure the condemnation of some of the 
fathers whom it had approved. Among those of this 
class he found the name of Theodorus of Mopsuestia ; 
and ignorant, probably, that he had been, in his day, 
a Universalist, and knowing only that he was cele- 
brated as an opposer of Origen, he thought that, by 
anathematizing him, he should accomplish, at once, 
two important objects, — that of avenging, in some 
degree, the late indignities inflicted on the memory of 
his own favorite author ; and that also of bringing 
disgrace on the obnoxious council. 

Accordingly, he cautiously suggested to his patron, 
the emperor, that he might easily effect a work in 
which he was laboriously engaged, the reconciliation 
of a certain party in the church, merely by con- 
demning Theodorus of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of 
Cyrus, and Ibas of Edessa, together with the writings 
they had left in favor of Nestorianism. Justinian had 
not sufficient penetration to discover the subtlety of 
his adviser ; and, with his characteristic officiousness, 
assumed the authority of pronouncing, for the whole 
church, upon one of the most hazardous topics he 
could have selected. But it was foreseen that, when 
he had once promulgated his decision, his theological 
vanity would be security against all retraction, and his 
pride of power a guaranty of his perseverance and final 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



277 



victory. Accordingly, Theoclorus felt already assured 
of success, when he received a command to draw up 
an Edict in the Emperor's name, condemning the 
fathers in question, together with their obnoxious 
writings ; which have since been known by the title 
of the Three Chapters. This Edict was published 
a. d. 546, in the form of a Letter addressed to the 
whole Catholic church ; and all bishops were required 
to subscribe its anathemas. Most of them, apparently 
against their conscience, complied, after some hesi- 
tation, and were liberally rewarded ; but such as 
maintained their integrity and refused were of course 
banished. A violent and general contention followed 
for several years. Books were written on both sides. 
The Koman pontiff himself continually shuffled be- 
tween fear of the sovereign's vengeance, and regard 
for the consistency of the church. The passions 
of men grew inflamed, till all Christendom was so 
agitated that the usual expedient became necessary 
in order to allay, or rather to give vent to, the fermen- 
tation. 1 

On the fourth of May, a. d. 553, the Fifth General 
Council was therefore opened at Constantino- 
ple, under the eye of Justinian, by one hun- 
dred and fifty-one bishops from the Greek and African 
churches ; and it was continued, with the accession 
of fourteen other bishops, till the second day of the 
following month. Everything appears to have been 
managed, as was expected, according to the emperor's 
pleasure. The Three Chapters were condemned with 
extravagant expressions of zeal ; and the person of 

1 Fleury's Eccl. Hist., book xxxiii., ch. 21—43. 



278 THE ANCIENT HISTORY 

Theodoras of Mopsuestia was anathematized, not for 
his Universalism, but for his alleged Nestorianism. 
Thus far the artful Bishop of Cappadocia saw his plan 
go into complete effect. But he could not stop the 
ponderous machinery which he had put in motion ; 
and he was destined to feel, before the close of its 
operations, that his cunning had overreached itself. 
While he was, in reality, the prime but covert mana- 
ger, steadily controlling the results, by first suggest- 
ing to Justinian the course to be pursued, and then 
dictating, in his name, to the council, the subject of 
Origenism, entirely foreign from the business of the 
session, is said to have been suddenly brought before 
the obsequious conclave, 1 in spite of all his efforts to 
the contrary. The emperor's attention had lately 
been directed to it by some incidents in Palestine ; 
certain deputies from Jerusalem, with Conon, the 
Abbot of St. Sabas, at their head, urged its immedi- 
ate consideration; and Justinian was by no means 
backward to show his zeal and faithfulness in the 
affair. He despatched, it is thought, a message to 
the assembled bishops, exhorting them to examine the 
doctrine of "the impious Origen," and to condemn 
him and his followers, together with their tenets. As 
a form which they might use in framing their decrees, 

!Here I follow Huet (Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 4, sect, iii., § 14 — 16), Fleury 
(Eccl. Hist., book xxxiii., ch. 40, 51), and tbe testimony of antiquity, in preference 
to the authority of the modern historians, who contend that the affair of Origen, 
Didymus, and Evagrius was not examined in this Council, but only in that which 
was called together, at Constantinople, by Mennas, on receiving Justinian's Edict, 
in A. D. 540. Without incurring the charge of pretending to decide this question, 
I may say, that the condemnation^ of Origen, Didymus, and Evagrius, having been 
almost invariably attributed to the Fifth General Council, has been received in 
the Catholic church with the deference which is paid to the decisions of such a 
body. 



OF UNI VERS ALISM. 



279 



he sent them the long Edict which he had published, 
thirteen or fourteen years before, with its catalogue 
of heresies and of anathemas. 

On the receipt of these papers, the fathers of the 
council, it seems, hastened to pay obedience to the 
request ; and the following decree served at once to 
commend them to their master, and to betray to the 
eye of the historian their servility to the imperial 
dictation. "Whoever says, or thinks, that the souls 
of mankind pre-existed as • intellectual, holy natures, 
but that growing weary of divine contemplation they 
degenerated to their present character, and were sent 
into these bodies for the purpose of punishment, let 
him be anathema. Whoever says, or thinks, that the 
human soul of Christ pre-existed, and became united 
to the Word before its incarnation and nativity of the 
blessed Virgin, let him be anathema. Whoever says, 
or thinks, that the body of Christ was first formed in 
the womb of the holy Virgin, and that the Word and 
his pre-existent human soul were afterwards united 
with it, let him be anathema. Whoever says, or 
thinks, that the divine Word is to become like the 
angelic and celestial powers, and thus be reduced to 
an equality with them, let him be anathema. Who- 
ever says, or thinks, that in the resurrection human 
bodies are to be of a round, globular form, or who- 
ever will not acknowledge that mankind are to rise in 
an erect posture, let him be anathema. Whoever 
says that the sun, the moon, the stars, and the waters 
above the heavens, are certain animated or intelligent 
powers, let him be anathema. Whoever says, or 
thinks, that Christ is to be crucified in the future 



280 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



world for the demons, as he was in this for men, let 
him be anathema. Whoever says, or thinks, that the 
power of God is limited, and that it has created all 
that it was able to embrace, let him be anathema. 
Whoever says, or thinks, that the torments of the 
demons and of impious men are temporal, so that they 
will, at length, come to an end, or whoever holds a 
restoration either of the demons or of the impious, 
let him be anathema. Anathema to Origen Adaman- 
tius, who taught these things among his detestable 
and accursed dogmas ; and to every one who believes 
these things, or asserts them, or who shall ever dare 
to defend them in any part, let there be anathema : In 
Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. 
Amen." 1 

In addition to these fulminating sentences, an act 
of condemnation is said to have been passed, also, 
upon those writings of Didymus of Alexandria and of 
Evagrius Ponticus, which advocated pre-existence and 
universal restoration. 2 

The decree of a General Council was unalterable, 
and fixed the faith, at least the creed, 
A,D * an ' of the Catholic church, forever. It 
only remains that we mention the effects of this de- 
cision on the Origenists of Palestine. When the con- 
demnatory acts were sent to that province, they were 
subscribed by all the prelates' except Alexander of 
Abyla, who was accordingly expelled from his bish- 
opric. The monks of Nova Laura also refused obe- 
dience and withdrew from the general communion. 



1 Summa Conciliorum, Auctore M. L. Bail., torn. 1, p. 285, 286, edit. Paris, 1672. 

2 Vit. Sabae, cap. 90. 



OF UNIVERSALISM. 



281 



The new Patriarch of Jerusalem, who had been ap- 
pointed to that see during the late council, endeavored 
to reclaim the dissenters ; but, at the end of eight 
months, finding all persuasion vain, he availed himself 
of the emperor's authority, and by force drove the 
Origenists out of the country. 1 

1 Vit. Sabae, cap. 90.<» 

a With the highest respect for the learning of Dr. Ballou, we must nevertheless 
question his opinion that Universalism was condemned at this council. The edict 
of Justinian to Mennas, Patriarch of Constantinople, which led to the Synod of 
A. D. 544, has been noticed by the doctor. There is little reasonable doubt that 
the condemnation of Origenism (thus of Universalism) by this Home Synod, 
SvVofio? eySrj/xoucra, was afterwards ascribed by writers, especially Cyrillus Scythop. 
in Vita S. Saba?, c. 90, to the Fifth (so-called) General Council, held A. D. 553, through 
confounding the two — both having been held at Constantinople. Vide Du Pin, 
Biblioth. Pat., art. 5th CEcum. Con. I, v., with whom the corrected voice of his- 
tory is in substantial agreement. Comp. Walch, Ketzerhist, vii. 660, viii. 280; 
Le Quien Oriens Christianus, iii. 210. Mosheim says, in speaking of the Council 
of A. D. 553, cent. vi. p. n\ c. iii, § xi., note, " We do not find in the acts of this 
council any one which condemns the doctrines of Origen. It is, however, gen- 
erally imagined that these doctrines were condemned by this assembly ; and what 
gave rise to this notion was probably the fifteen Greek canons yet extant, in which 
the principal errors of Origen were condemned, and which arc entitled The Canons 
of the one hundred and sixty Fathers, assembled in the Council of Constantinople," 
that is, that of Mennas, in A. D. 544. According to Geiseler, the Fifth General 
Council, except (as a matter of course) perhaps giving a general approval to all 
imperial degrees before issued, took no notice whatever of Origenism. He says, 
speaking of the Synod of Mennas, that " from it proceeded, without doubt, the 
fifteen canons against Origen (Prim. ed. Petr. Lambecius in Comment, bibl. 
August, Vindob. viii. 435, ap. Mansi ix. 395), though their title favors the fifth 
Oecumenical Council." Ch. Hist. v. 1, 478. Hase, Hist. Ch. Ch., seems to take the 
same ground. Hagenbach, Hist, of Doct., distinctly refers the condemnation to 
A. D. 544 only. Meander, Hist. Christ. Relig. and Ch., does the same. 

The Fifth General Council was really called in the interests of Origenism, 
through the influence of Theodoras Ascidus, Bishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, 
by the Emperor Justinian. It was not designed to touch Origenism, but to 
secure the authoritative condemnation of the " Three Chapters," and to favor 
Monophysitism. The imperial power controlled the council, though it was pre- 
sided over by Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople. That Origenism was con- 
demned, therefore, at this council, is, to say the least, extremely doubtful. 

It is to be remembered, also, that as a matter of fact, whatever the Western 
and Eastern Churches may have since decided, this council was not truly oecu- 
menical. It was no more so than the late Vatican Council, which embraced only 
the cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, etc., of the Roman obedience. 
The council of A. d. 553 was composed of Eastern prelates, and was governed by 
an Eastern patriarch, and controlled by an emperor who was really but an East- 



282 



THE ANCIENT HISTORY 



era monarch. Vigilius, Pope of Rome, positively refused to recognize it, from the 
first, and was not present in person or by legate. For refusing his presence and 
recognition, he was, at the dictation of the emperor, excommunicated by the 
council. But that did not make the council oecumenical. 

If General Councils are authoritative of the faith of the church, the Fifth (grant- 
ing it oecumenical) did not (we think) condemn Universalism. But it really has 
no claim to the title of oecumenical, — certainly not in any such sense as, for 
instance, the Council of Nice, A. D. 325. See, further article on condemnation of 
Universalism, in "Univ. Quart.," Oct., 1864. — A. St. J. C. 



APPENDIX. 



FROM A. D. 554 TO A. D. 1500. 

Haying brought the history of Universalism clown 
to its complete and authoritative condemnation, we 
may, with all propriety, close the regular and con- 
nected narrative ; especially as we have followed it 
into the dim twilight preceding the long age of dark- 
ness. But as curiosity naturally looks onward, with 
an inquiring eye, through the gloomy succession of 
centuries from the Fifth General Council to the era of 
the Reformation, I shall here annex such notices of 
the doctrine, during that period, as have occurred to 
me. 

In the first Lateran Council, convened at Eome, by 
Pope Martin I., in the year 649, against 
those who asserted but one will in Jesus A ' D# 
Christ, the fathers repeated the aDathema against 
Origen, and his followers, Didymus and Evagrius, 
who, it will be recollected, had been condemned 
only for Universalism. 

The Sixth General Council, held at Constantinople 
in a. d. 680, recognized for some reason, 
the condemnation of Origen, Didymus, and 

283 



284 



APPENDIX. 



Evagrius ; either from a suspicion that the heresy was 
still cherished, or else from a casualty in the form of 
expression. The principal business of this council, 
convened like the Lateran against^ the Monothelites, — 
a sect so called from some distinguishing notionscon- 
cerning the two natures of Christ, — had not the least 
connection with the subject of Origenism. Yet one 
of the declarations reads thus : " We agree with the 
holy and universal, or general, councils in all things ; 
especially with the last of them, the fifth, which was 
assembled in this city against Theodorus of Mop- 
suestia, Origen, Didymus, and Evagrius." 

The Seventh General Council also, which met, A. d. 
787, at Mce in Bithynia, for the purpose of 
defending and establishing the use of images, 
relics, etc., in churches, has left on its records a 
sentence that may induce a suspicion that Universalism 
was not quite extinct : " We anathematize the fables 
of Origen, Didymus, and Evagrius." 

And the Eighth General Council, at Constantinople, 
in a. d. 869, likewise digressed from its 
proper objects, in order to pronounce 
an "anathema against Origen, who advanced many 
errors ; and against Evagrius and Didymus, who are 
caught in the same abyss of perdition." 1 This coun- 
cil was called together on the memorable quarrel 
which resulted in the separation of the Greek and 
Latin church ; and therefore it had no natural concern 
with the fathers here condemned. 



1 For the sentences extracted from the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Councils, 
see Hist, de POrigenisme, par Louis Doucin, pp. 321, 322. For the notice of the 
Lateran Council, see Huetii Origenian, lib. ii., cap. 4, sect. iii. 17. 



APPENDIX. 



285 



The introduction of this foreign topic, in these 
successive synods, is at least a circumstantial evi- 
dence that it was not altogether accidental ; and that 
the obnoxious sentiments were thought to have some 
abettors, probably in the eastern church. 

This indication is confirmed by a circumstance that 
happens to have come to our knowledge. 

♦ n • i A. D. 713 to 730. 

(jrermanus, Archbishop of Constantinople 
in the former part of the eighth century, published a 
book, we are told, to confute "the heretical doctrine 
that the demons shall be restored to their pristine 
state, and that those who die in their sins shall, after 
certain punishments, be gathered into the number of 
the blest. This impiety, so full of fables, he dis- 
proved, first, by the words of the Lord, then by the 
apostolic decrees ; to which he adds also the testimo- 
nies of the prophets, which show clearly that as the 
enjoyment of the blest is eternal and ineffable, so also 
the punishment of sinners will be endless and infinite. 
And not only by these testimonies did he confound 
the profane and poisonous error, but also by those of 
the holy fathers ; and particularly by the very writ- 
ings of him [Gregory Nyssen] whom this heresy per- 
fidiously claimed as its patron. By means of all 
these authorities, he freed the whole ecclesiastical 
body from that scheme of fables so pernicious to the 
soul." In part of his book, Germanus undertook the 
impracticable task of showing that the ancient father, 
Gregory Nyssen, was not an advocate of Univer- 
salism. The occasion of this bold attempt is said to 
have been " because that they who favored the notion 
that the demons and the damned might be delivered, 



286 



APPENDIX. 



endeavored to mix the dark and pernicious poison of 
Origen's dreams with Gregory's luminous and salu- 
tary writings, and strove secretly to add an heretical 
madness to the virtue and renowned orthodoxy of 
him whom they knew to be distinguished for doctrine 
and eloquence, and the bright reputation of whose 
sanctity they knew was talked of by all." We are 
likewise told that " those books of Gregory which the 
heretics craftily endeavored to bring to their aid, but 
which Germanus, the advocate of the truth, had pre- 
served uninjured from their attempts, were The Dia- 
logue, concerning the Soul; The Catechetical Oration; 
and the book concerning a Perfect Life." 1 

This account, taken from a writer of the ninth 
century, who was one of the most renowned ecclesi- 
astical critics of all antiquity, shows that, about the 
time of Germanus, the heresy of universal restoration 
made some noise in the East. 

In the western church there appeared, among sev- 
eral other sectaries, a preacher who claims our notice. 
Clement, a native of Ireland, seems to have been reg- 
ularly ordained a presbyter, or minister, in the 
Romish communion. But he at length discarded its 
superstitions, renounced its authority, and rejected 
the whole mass of ecclesiastical canons, the decrees 
of the councils, and all the treatises and expositions 
of the fathers ; reserving to himself, probably, as the 
guide of his faith, the Bible alone, which was now 
forbidden the people. He taught that Christ, when 
he descended to hell, restored all the damned, even 

i Photii Bibliothec, Cod. 233. See note 2, page 169. 



APPENDIX. 



287 



infidels and idolators ; and he differed, on what par- 
ticulars we know not, from the Catholic doctrine con- 
cerning predestination. Several independent congre- 
gations were gathered, under his ministry, in parts of 
France and Germany ; and such was his progress as 
to awaken the attention of both the civil and ecclesi- 
astical powers. In a council of twenty-three bish- 
ops, assembled a. d. 744, at Soissons in 

A. D. 744 

France, by King Pepin, Clement was de- 
posed from the priesthood, condemned among other 
heretics, and imprisoned. Boniface, Archbishop of 
Mentz, and legate of the Holy See, presided, proba- 
bly, in this council ; and he immediately sent to the 
Pope an account of the affair. It was soon dis- 
covered that Clement had left disciples even among 
the lower orders of the clergy ; and in a council of 
seven bishops, held the following year, by Pope Zach- 
ary, at Rome, he was again deposed and anathema- 
tized, together with his followers, in case they should 
not renounce their error. Two years afterwards, the 
Pope advised Boniface to call a council in his neigh- 
borhood, and ascertain whether Clement and certain 
other heretics would submit to the church ; and, in 
case of their obstinacy, to send them to Rome. It 
does not appear, however, that anything further was 
done ; and it is probable that Clement died in prison. 
Boniface reported that he was guilty of adultery ; 1 
but, as some such accusation was the customary 
expedient of the Catholics on similar occasions, the 

1 Fleury's Eccl. Hist, xlii., chap. 39, 50, 52, 53, 54, 58. The orthodox enthusiast, 
Milner, applauds the soul-saving zeal of Boniface on this occasion; and com- 
mends the discipline inflicted upon Clement and his associates. See his Hist, of 
the Church, cent, viii., ch. 4. 



288 



APPENDIX. 



story is unworthy of notice. Mosheim says, that, 
"by the best and most authentic accounts, Clement 
was much better acquainted with the true principles 
and doctrines of Christianity than Boniface himself ; 
and hence he is considered by many as a confessor 
and sufferer for the truth, in this barbarous age." 1 
Priestley also thinks, "it is probable that, if his senti- 
ments and conduct were fully known, he would be 
ranked with the most early reformers." 2 

The greatest scholar, and perhaps the most philo- 
sophical genius of the ninth century, was 
John Scotus Erigena, a native of Ireland, 
or of Scotland. At an early age he visited Greece, 
especially Athens, and studied the Oriental as well as 
classic literature. On his return he was invited by 
Charles the Bald to the court of France ; where he 
probably continued till his death, notwithstanding the 
accounts of his removal to England, on the request 
of Alfred the Great, to take charge of the college 
which that prince had founded at Oxford. His favor- 
ite study, it appears, was philosophy, in which he fol- 
lowed the doctrines of the New Platonism : that all 
things proceeded from God, and will eventually return 
to him. He distinguished himself, however, as an 
ecclesiastical writer. In this character his influence 
was so hostile to the corrupt doctrines of that day, 
and especially to the papal hierarchy, that the court 
of Rome threatened to arraign him. He wrote against 
transubstantiation, and the Augustinian scheme of 
predestination ; and it is said that he taught the opin- 



1 Mosheim's Eccl. Hist., cent, viii., pt. ii., chap. 5, § 2. 

2 Priestley's Hist, of the Church, period xv., sect, v., p. 181. 



APPENDIX. 



289 



ion of Origen concerning the end of the punishment 
of the damned, and the final restoration of all fallen 
creatures. 1 He is classed among the mystic philoso- 
phers and theologians. 

From about the year 850, for two centuries on- 
wards, both the Greek and the Roman or Latin 
churches enjoyed, within their respective communions, 
the golden age of profound ignorance and undisturbed 
orthodoxy. One of the most learned and impartial 
of the Catholic historians says, "In this age of the 
church there were no controversies concerning arti- 
cles of faith, or doctrinal points of divinity, because 
there were no heretics, nor other inquisitive persons, 
who refined upon matters of religion,* or undertook to 
dive to the bottom of its mysteries. The sober part 
contented themselves with yielding implicit faith to 
whatever the churchmen thought fit to deliver from 
the pulpit; and as for the profligate wretches, they 
abandoned themselves to gross sensualities, for the 
gratification of their brutal appetites, rather than to 
the vices of the mind, to which none but ingenious 
persons are liable. Therefore, in this age of dark- 
ness and ignorance, the church, not being disturbed 
upon account of its doctrines, had nothing to do but 
to suppress the enormities which abounded with re- 
gard to discipline and manners." 2 A protestant his- 
torian shall describe to us the real character of this 
church, so unmolested by error, at this period : 

1 As authorities for his Universalism, the Rev. T. J. Sawyer has kindly furnished 
me with the following references : Doederlein, Institut. Theol. Christ., vol. ii., p. 
202; D.J. Otto Theiss ucher d. bihl. u. kirch. Lehrmeinung von Ewigkcit d. 
Hoellenstrafen, s. 24. 

2 Du Pin's Eccl. Hist., vol. viii., ch. 6. 

19 



290 



APPENDIX. 



" Both in the eastern and western provinces the clergy 
were, for the most part, composed of a most worth- 
less set of men, shamefully illiterate and stupid, igno- 
rant, more especially in religious matters, equally 
enslaved to sensuality and superstition, and capable 
of the most abominable and flagitious deeds. This 
dismal degeneracy of the sacred order was, accord- 
ing to the most credible accounts, principally owing 
to the pretended chiefs and rulers of the universal 
church, who indulged themselves in the commission 
of the most odious crimes, and abandoned them- 
selves to the lawless impulse of the most licentious 
passions, without reluctance or remorse ; who con- 
founded, in short, all difference between just and 
unjust, to satisfy their impious ambition ; and whose 
spiritual empire was such a diversified scene of 
iniquity and violence as never was exhibited under 
any of those temporal tyrants who have been the 
scourges of mankind." 1 "Both Greeks and Latins 
placed the essence and life of religion in the worship 
of images and departed saints ; in searching after, 
with zeal, and preserving, with a devout care and 
veneration, the sacred relics of holy men and women ; 
and in accumulating riches upon the priests and 
monks, whose opulence increased with the progress 
of superstition. Scarcely did any Christian dare to 
approach the throne of God, without first rendering 
the saints and images propitious by a solemn round 
of expiatory rites and lustrations. The ardor, also, 
with which relics were sought surpasses almost all 
credibility ; it had seized all ranks and orders among 

1 Mosheim's Eccl. Hist., cent, x., pt. 2, ch. ii. 1. 



APPENDIX. 



291 



the people, and was grown into a sort of fanaticism 
and frenzy ; and, if the monks are to be believed, 
the Supreme Being interposed, in an especial and ex- 
traordinary manner, to discover to doting old wives 
and bareheaded friars, the places where the bones or 
carcasses of the saints lay dispersed or interred." 1 
Such was the age of midnight darkness. 

But, though no new heresies, so called, arose at 
this period within the two vast communities which ar- 
rogated to themselves the appellation of The Church, 
yet one earlier and very powerful sect, that of the 
Paulicians, still existed in the East, and, under several 
names, was spread in the West. It is in this hetero- 
geneous body that modern historians 9 have sought, 
with some appearance of success, for the embryo 
germ of the Reformation ; and it is among the same 
people that we may discover some vague elements of 
Universalism, confused and doubtful indeed at first, 
but afterwards assuming a more distinct character, and 
coming out into more decided results. The Pauli- 
cians were, at once, descendants and dissenters from 
the Manicheans, with whose Gnosticism they were 
considerably tainted, while they rejected the name 
with the utmost abhorrence. " Extraordinary as it 
may appear, the same general principles from which 

1 Mosheim's Eccl. Hist., cent, x., pt. 2, ch. iii. 1. 

2 Mosheim (Eccl. Hist., cent, x., part 2, ch. v. 2, and cent, xi., part 2, ch. v., 
compared with cent. xii. part 2, ch. v., etc.), has traced the Paulicians down into the 
Aibancnses, Albigenses, Cathari, etc., etc. Gibbon (Decline and Fall, etc., ch. 
liv.) has followed the same line of descent, and connected them with the Reforma- 
tion ; and so has Priestley (Hist, of the Church, period xviii., sect, vii., pp. 102 — 104, 
etc.). Milner doubts their relation to the forerunners of the Reformation, because 
he is not convinced of their dispersion through Europe (Hist, of the Church, cent, 
ix., ch. 2), but he is confident that they were very good saints. Catholic historians 
agree fully with Oibbon, as it regards their connection with the Reformers. 



292 



APPENDIX. 



were derived, in the very age of the apostles, the 
earliest corruptions of the Christian doctrine, were 
the means of bringing about the reformation of Chris- 
tianity ; and, having effected this purpose, they are 
now become extinct." 1 

Of the rise, doctrine, and progress of this sect, 
many particulars are very uncertain ; but we may 
venture to follow, with some confidence, one of the 
most clear-sighted masters of history, 2 whose account 
has, in the present affair, been commended both by 
the liberal and the bigoted, by the Protestant and the 
Catholic, notwithstanding his general hostility to re- 
vealed religion. About the year 660, we 
first discover this people, in considerable 
numbers, spreading quietly from the neighborhood 
of Samosata, in the upper region of the Euphra- 
tes, north-easterly through Armenia, and northerly 
through Cappadocia and Pontus. Descended from 
the Gnostics, who had never been affected with the 
gradual corruptions of the Catholics, they abhorred 
the use of images, of relics, pompous ceremonies, and 
ecclesiastical domination ; and they even dispensed 
with the rites of water baptism and the Lord's sup- 
per. Their preachers were distinguished from their 
brethren by no title ; and no superiority was allowed, 
except what arose from the austerity of their lives, 
their zeal, or their knowledge. The Manichean books 
they rejected, and likewise the Jewish, as they called 

1 Priestley's Hist, of the Church, period xviii., sect, vii., pp. 103, 104. 

2 Gibbon's Decline and Fall, etc., ch. iiv. Milner says, " The candor of Gibbon is 
remarkable in this part of his history. O, si sic omnia I " and the learned Charles 
Butler (Book of the Roman Catholic Church, note at the end of Letter xii.) thinks 
this ths most interesting chapter of his work. 



APPENDIX. 



293 



the Old Testament ; but the New Testament, which 
in the orthodox church had almost disappeared from 
the laity, they received as the only volume of sacred 
Scripture, and enjoined its diligent perusal on all the 
people. It is probable, however, that they dis- 
owned the two Epistles of St. Peter, and the Reve- 
lation of St. John ; and it is certain that their favor- 
ite books were the writings of St. Paul, from whom 
they, perhaps, took their name of Paulicians. Still 
they held the Manichean notion of two original Prin- 
ciples, the Good and the Bad ; and they looked for- 
ward to the triumph of the former over his rival, 
either by the entire abolition, 1 or partial conquest, 
of death, sin, and misery. The body with which 
Christ was seen upon earth, together with his cruci- 
fixion, they supposed to have been apparent only ; 
and of course it is probable that they denied his real 
resurrection, and that of mankind. 

Their Oriental notions might, with 
propriety, be disliked by the church. 
But the downright simplicity of their institutions, 
their total disrespect of images and relics, their con- 
tempt of all those artifices by which the craft got 
their living; kindled against them the most implacable 
hatred ; and the orthodox emperors of the East re- 
solved on their complete extermination. For an 
hundred and fifty years they sustained a bloody per- 
secution, and with a patience and inoffensive meek- 
ness that converted even some of their executioners. 

1 1 have ventured, without any express authority, to attribute to them a differ- 
ence of opinion among themselves, on this point ; because such seems to have 
been the case with their predecessors, the Manicheans and other Gnostics, and 
also with their descendants, the Alhigenses. etc. 



294 



APPENDIX. 



But all human endurance may at length be overcome ; 
and when that sanguinary zealot, the Empress Theo- 
dora, succeeded to the regency of the East, during 
her son's minority, she drove them beyond the 
bounds of forbearance. In those parts of Asia 
Minor where they abounded, and in Armenia, she 
confiscated their goods, and put to death by the 
sword, the gibbet, and the flames, more than a hun- 
dred thousand of their number, making them expire 
slowly by a variety of the most excruciating tor- 
ments. Those who escaped the horrible massacre 
fled immediately for refuge to the Sara- 
cens, accepted with gratitude permission 
to build a city on the frontiers of Armenia, and 
entered into an alliance with their Mahometan pro- 
tectors. They soon gathered an army, and marched 
back to avenge on the Greeks the sufferings of their 
martyred brethren. The war was carried on, with 
alternate advantage, about forty years ; but towards 
the close of the century the power of the Paulicians 
was effectually broken, and they were obliged to seek 
security in the fastnesses of the Armenian mountains. 

But they had already obtained a permanent footing 
in Europe. About the middle of the preceding cen- 
tury, in the midst of those persecutions they so 
patiently endured, a colony of them was transported, 
by one of the Greek emperors, from Asia to Thrace, 
westward of Constantinople. With a zeal which no 
sufferings could repress, they labored successfully to 
diffuse their doctrine among their northern neighbors, 
the Bulgarians, in the lower region of the Danube. 
After sustaining many hardships and cruelties for 



APPENDIX. 



295 



more than two hundred years, they were, at length, 
reinforced by another and very numer- 

t /. a . i . i A. D. 970 to 1100. 

ous colony irom Armenia ; and they were 
also privileged with a full toleration of their faith. 
In course of time they occupied a line of villages 
and castles from Thrace westerly through Mace- 
donia and Epirus ; and by the various chances of 
trade, of emigration and persecution, they became 
scattered, in small numbers, over all Europe. Their 
Manichean or Oriental principles would have been, 
perhaps, a fatal preventive to the reception of their 
faith among the people of the West, had it not been 
counteracted by the simplicity of their religious insti- 
tutions. A strong though secret discontent had been 
generally provoked by the avarice, the despotism, the 
mummery, and the dissoluteness of the Church of 
Konie ; and when the oppressed and neglected popu- 
lace beheld a sect of professed Christians blameless 
in their Lives, humble in their demeanor, and dis- 
claiming all tyranny over the consciences of men, the 
spectacle was so attractive to many that they became 
partial converts to the new system, and adopted even 
its doctrines, though with various modifications. 
From this amalgamation arose all those sects of the 
eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, 
which the Catholic writers denominate Manicheans, 
but which are known to Protestants under the name of 
Albanenses, Albigenses, and Cathari. This mongrel 
race, it is well known, spread through Italy, France, 
and Germany ; and, for a long period, suffered from 
the church all the cruelty that cunning could devise 
and power inflict. "It was about the year 1150, that 



296 



APPENDIX. 



several parts of the continent had become pervaded 
by men, chiefly of the poorer and laborious classes 
of life, who were forming themselves into religious 
communities, distinct from the established Catholic 
church, and who had the Scriptures with them in their 
vernacular languages, and were intently and critically 
comparing the tenets, system, and conduct of the papal 
clergy with the precepts and instructions of the 
evangelists and apostles. They were universally dif- 
fused. In France they were called Weavers, Poor of 
Lyons, Waldenses, and Albigenses : in Flanders, 
Piphles ; and in Germany, Cathari. They were at 
Bonn, and in the diocese of Cologne ; they abounded 
near the Alps and Pyrenees ; they were greatly dif- 
fused through Provence and in Tholouse ; they existed 
in Spain ; and had spread through Lombardy to Padua 
and Florence, and some had even entered Naples. 
They were distinguished for their missionary spirit, 
and the caution with which they pursued it." 1 

With various opinions as to the Manichean doctrine 
of two original Principles, they were, nevertheless, 
united in denouncing as anti-Christian the authority, 
the ceremonies, aud the whole hierarchy of the Ro- 
mish communion. It is probable that many of them 
held, in some form, the doctrine of the salvation of 
all souls ; for of this they are accused by the Catho- 
lic writers, who also assert that they denied a future 
judgment and future punishment. 2 

1 History of England, by Sharon Turner, vol. ii., pp. 381, 382, Lond., 1815. N. B. 
This learned and philosophical historian follows Gibbon, in deducing the above- 
named sects from the Paulicians. 

2 See G-abrielis Prateoli Marcossii Vita Haereticorum, art. Albanenses, Albigen- 
ses, etc.; and Berti Breviarium Hist. Eccl., cent. viii. — xii., cap. 3; and Notitiaa 
Eccl., Pars Tertia, per Sodalet. Academ. Bambergensem, etc. 



APPENDIX. 



207 



We find a solitary trace of ITniversalism, at this 
time, among the monks of France. At the 
city of Nevers, which stands on the river A D ' 
Loire, about a hundred and forty miles south of Paris, 
one Kaynold, who presided as abbot over the monas- 
teryof St. Martin, was accused, in a council held this 
year at Sens, of maintaining two errors, which were 
doubtless derived from the Paulicians : 1. That the 
bread of the sacrament was corruptible, and that it 
was digested , like other bread; and, 2. That all men 
will eventually be saved, as Origen had taught. 1 
What was the result of the complaint I know not. 

It is, perhaps, impossible to determine whether we 
ought to rank Amalric, or Amauri, an 

. (\ . A. D. 1200 to 1210. 

eminent professor of logic and theology 
at Paris, among the Universalists. Like the celebrated 
Wickliffe, 2 he was charged with holding the pantheis- 
tical tenet that the universe is God ; but it is certain 
that the whole tenor of the doctrine attributed to him 
opposes that proposition, at least in its exceptionable 
sense. "According to Fleury, he held that, in order 
to be saved, every person must believe that he is a 
member of Jesus Christ; but, the Pope condemning 
this opinion, he retracted it before his death. Fleury 
also ascribes to the followers of Amauri an opinion 
which is said to have taken its rise from a book 
by Joachim, entitled The Everlasting Gospel, namely, 
That Jesus Christ abolished the old law, and that 
in his time commenced the dispensation of the Holy 

1 Priestley's Hist, of the Christian Church, period xviii., sect, ix., pp. 136, 
137. 

2 Lenfant'a Hist, of the Council of Constance, hook hi., ch. 42, art. 28, vol. i., 
p. 419. 



298 



APPENDIX. 



Spirit, in which confession, baptism, the eucharist, 
and other sacraments would have no place ; but that 
persons might be saved by the interior grace of the 
Holy Spirit, without any external acts. He, moreover, 
says that Amauri denied the resurrection, said that 
heaven and hell were in men's own breasts, that the 
Pope was antichrist, and Rome Babylon." 1 I shall now 
set down, in their own words, the catalogue which 
other Catholic writers have made of his errors : " 1. 
Amalric said that the body of Christ was not other- 
wise present in the bread of the sacrament than as it 
is in other bread, and in everything else ; so that he 
denied transubstantiation. 2. He said that God had 
spoken by Ovid as much as by Augustine. 3. He 
denied the resurrection of the body, and likewise 
heaven and hell ; saying that whoever enjoyed the 
knowledge of God in himself enjoyed also heaven in 
himself, and that, on the contrary, whoever committed 
deadly sin experienced hell in himself. 4. He as- 
serted that to dedicate altars to the saints, to burn 
incense to images, and to invoke the saints, was 
idolatry. 5. He affirmed, not only with the Araieni, 
that Adam and Eve would never have cohabited had 
they continued in their first state, but also that there 
would have been no difference of sex, and that the 
multiplication of mankind would have been like that 
of the ungels, thus contradicting what is written in 
Genesis : God created man in his own image; in his 
image created he him, male and female. 6. He as- 
serted that God is not to be seen in himself, but in Ins 
creatures, as the light is seen in the air. 7. He said 

i Priestley's Hist, of the Christ. Church, period xix., sect, zri., pp. 296—299. 



APPENDIX. 



299 



that what would otherwise be mortal sin would, if 
done in charity, be no sin : thus promising impunity 
to sinners. 8. He affirmed that those ideas which are 
in the Divine mind are both capable of being created, 
and actually are created; when Augustine, on the 
contrary, has declared that there is nothing in the Di- 
vine mind but what is eternal and incommunicable. 
9. He fancied that the soul of the contemplative or 
happy saint would lose itself, as to its own nature, 
and return into that ideal existence which it had in the 
Divine mind. 10. He taught that all creatures, in 
the end, would return into God, and be converted 
into him; so that they will be one, individually, 
with him." 1 As this account is given by his enemies, 
we must make an allowance in his favor ; and it is not 
an unreasonable conclusion that he only opposed the 
corruptions and errors of the church, that he adopted 
some mystic notions which then prevailed concerning 
spiritual union with Deity, and that he believed that' 
God would finally become " all in all." With regard 
to the resurrection, he may have made, like the cele- 
brated Locke, some distinctions which gave his adver- 
saries occasion to charge him with denying it. 

Some of the opinions of Amalric, or Amauri, as he 
is generally called, were condemned by the Univer- 
sity of Paris, and likewise by Pope Innocent III., and 
just before his death the author was compelled to 
retract them. But he left disciples, and, in a. d. 
1209, a council was called at Paris, in which ten priests 
or students of divinity were condemned to the flames, 
and four to perpetual imprisonment. At the same 

1 Summa Conciliorum, per M. L. Bail, torn, i., p. 432. 



300 



APPENDIX. 



time, the name of Amauri, who had died in peace, 

was anathematized, and his bones were dug up and 

thrown upon a dunghill. 

Solomon, metropolitan Bishop of Bas- 
A. D. 1222. ' 1 r 

sorah, on the Euphrates, about seventy 

miles from its mouth, was a writer of considerable 
renown among the Nestorians of the East. Some of 
his works, in the Syriac language, yet remain, though 
only in manuscript. In one of them he discusses the 
question, " Whether the demons and sinners, who are 
now in hell, shall at length obtain mercy, after having 
suffered their appointed punishment, and been puri- 
fied?" In answer, he quotes the affirmative opinion 
of Theodoras of Mopsuestia, and of Diodorus of 
Tarsus, and subscribes to it himself. He also endeav- 
ors to show, but it is said inconclusively, that other 
Nestorian writers taught the same doctrine. 1 

I present to the reader the following 

A. D. 1230 to 1234. 1 . . # . 

account entire, as it stands m a Catholic 
historian. I add no remarks, because every reflect- 
ing person will discover much incongruity between 
the different parts of the statement ; and every one, 
who is at all acquainted either with the habitual lan- 
guage of the old Eomish authors concerning heretics, 
or with the odious representations that are even now 
given, in our own country, concerning Universalists, 
will readily understand the present case : " Among all 
the sects which started up, during the thirteenth cen- 
tury, there was none more detestable than that of the 
Stadings, which showed itself by the outrages and 
cruelties which it exercised, in Germany, a. d. 1230, 

1 Assemani Biblioth. Orientalis, torn, iii., par. i., pp. 323, 324. 



APPENDIX. 



301 



against the Catholics, and especially against the 
church-men. Those impious persons honored Luci- 
fer, and inveighed against God himself, believing that 
he had unjustly condemned that angel to darkness, 
that one day he would be re-established, and that they 
should be saved with him. Whereupon they taught, 
that, until that time, it was not requisite to do any- 
thing which was pleasing to God, but quite the con- 
trary. They were persuaded that the devil appeared 
in their assemblies. They therein committed infa- 
mous things, and uttered strange blasphemies. It is 
said, that after they had received the eucharist, at 
Easter, from the hands of the [Catholic] priest, they 
kept it in their mouths without swallowing it, in order 
to throw it away. Those heretics spread themselves 
in the bishopric of Breme, and in the frontiers of 
Friezland and Saxony ; and, getting to a head, they 
massacred the ecclesiastics and monks, pillaged the 
churches, and committed a world of disorders. Pope 
Gregory IX. excited the bishops and lords of those 
countries to make war against them, in order to extir- 
pate that wicked race. The Archbishop of Breme, the 
Duke of Brabant, and the Count of Holland, having 
raised forces, marched, in the year 1234, to engage 
them. They made a vigorous defence, but were at 
last defeated and cut to pieces. Six thousand were 
killed upon the spot ; the rest perished in several 
ways, and they were all routed ; so that there were 
but few left, who were converted and returned to 
their obedience the next year." 1 



1 Du Pin's Eccl. Hist., vol. xi., ch. ix., p. 153. 



302 



APPENDIX. 



The sect of the Lollards spread 

A. D. 1315, etc. -m _ . _ _ \ _ . 

through Germany, and had for their 
leader Walter Lollard, who began to disperse his 
errors about the year 1315. They despised the sac- 
raments of the [Catholic] church, and derided her 
ceremonies and her constitutions, observed not the 
fasts of the church, nor its abstinences, acknowledged 
not the intercession of the [deceased] saints, and be- 
lieved that the damned in hell, and the evil angels 
should one day be saved. Trithemius, who recites 
the errors of these sectaries, says that Bohemia and 
Austria were infected with them ; that there were 
above twenty-four thousand persons in Germany who 
held these errors ; and that the greater part defended 
them with obstinacy, even unto death." 1 

In England, Langham, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, convened a council, in a. x>. 
1368, and, with the advice of his divines, gave judg- 
ment against thirty propositions which were taught 
in his province. Among them, the following opin- 
ions were condemned : 1 . Every man ought to have 
the free choice of turning to God, or from him ; and 
according to this choice he will be saved or damned. 
2. Baptism is not necessary to the salvation of 
infants. 3. No person will be damned for original 
sin only. 4. Grace, as it is commonly explained, is 
an illusion ; and eternal life may be acquired by the 
force of nature. 5. Nothing can be bad merely be- 
cause it is forbidden. 6. The fruit that Adam was 
forbidden to eat was forbidden because it was in 
itself bad* 7. Man is necessarily mortal, Jesus Christ 

1 Du Pin's Ecel. Hist., vol. xii., ch. viii., p. 113. 



APPENDIX. 



303 



included, as well as other animals. 8. All the 
damned, even the demons, may be restored and be- 
come happy. 9. God cannot make a reasonable 
creature impeccable, or free from a liability to sin. 
" It was an honor to the age and to the country," says 
Priestley, w to produce such sentiments as these ; but 
it was but a sudden blaze in the midst of much thick 
darkness, and, as far as appears, was soon extin- 
guished." 1 

"In the year 1411, a sect was clis- 

V' . Vn i -i A. D. 1400 to 1412. 

covered m i landers, and more espe- 
cially at Brussels, which owed its origin to an illiter- 
ate man, whose name was iEgidius Cantor, and to 
William of Hildenissen, a Carmelite monk, and whose 
members were distinguished by the title of Men of 
Understanding. There were many things," says 
Mosheim, " reprehensible in the doctrine of this sect, 
which seemed to be chiefly derived from the theology 
of the Mystics. For they pretended to be honored with 
celestial visions, denied that any could arrive at a 
perfect knowledge of the holy Scriptures, without the 
extraordinary succors of a divine illumination ; de- 
clared the approach of a new revelation from heaven, 
more complete and perfect than the gospel of Christ ; 
maintained that the resurrection was already accom- 
plished in the person of Jesus, and that no other res- 
urrection was to be expected ; affirmed that the 
inward man was not defiled by the outward actions, 
whatever they were ; that the pains of hell were to 
have an end, and that, not only all mankind, but even 

1 Priestley's Hist, of the Christian Church, period xx., sect, xii., pp. 498. 499. See 
also Du Pin's Eccl. Hist., vol. xii., ch. viii., p. 115. 



304 



APPENDIX. 



the devils themselves, were to return to God, and be 
made partakers of eternal felicity. This sect seems 
to have been a branch of that of The Brethren and 
Bisters of the Free Spirit; since they declared that a 
new dispensation of grace and spiritual liberty was to 
be promulgated to mortals by the Holy Ghost. It 
must, however, be acknowledged, on the other hand, 
that their absurdities were mingled with several opin- 
ions which showed that they were not totally void of 
understanding; for they maintained, among other 
things, 1. That Christ alone had merited eternal life 
and felicity for the human race, and that, therefore, 
men could not acquire this inestimable privilege by 
their own actions alone ; 2. That the priests, to whom 
the people confessed their transgressions, had not the 
power of absolving them, but that it was Christ alone 
in whom this authority was vested ; and, 3. That vol- 
untary penance and mortification were not necessary 
to salvation. These propositions, however, and some 
others, were declared heretical by Peter D'Ailly, 
Bishop of Cambray, who obliged William of Hilden- 
issen to abjure them, and who opposed with the great- 
est vehemence and success the progress of this sect." 1 
Such is Mosheim's accouut, which is the most particu- 
lar I have seen. 

John Picus, Earl of Miranclola and 
Concordia, a distinguished scholar in 
Italy, alarmed the church, about this period, by ad- 
vancing some opinions which properly come under our 
notice. From infancy he had evinced a remarkable 



1 Mosheim's Eccl. Hist., cent, xv., part ii., ch. v. 4. 



APPENDIX. 



305 



quickness of mind and a prodigious memory. At the 
age ot fourteen he studied law at Bologne ; and after- 
wards spent seven years in visiting the most famous 
universities of France and Italy, and in conversing 
with the learned of those countries. He then went to 
Rome ; and in a. d. 1486, when he was only twenty- 
one years old, he published, in this city, nine hundred 
propositions upon various subjects in the several 
branches of theology, magic, the cabalistic art, and 
philosophy, and engaged to maintain them in public 
disputation, according to a custom of those times. 
These propositions were, for the most part, either of 
a metaphysical kind, or of a character merely verbal ; 
but among them were the following, of a more impor- 
tant nature : " Jesus Christ did not descend into hell 
in person, but only in effect. Infinite pain is not due 
even to mortal sin ; because sin is finite , and there- 
fore merits but finite punishment. Neither crosses nor 
images ousrht to be adored. There is more reason to 
believe that Origen was saved than that he was 
damned, etc." But, instead of a controversy which 
he had challenged, he found that other means were 
likely to be employed in refuting him. His enemies 
sounded the alarm of heresy ; the Pope appointed 
commissioners to examine his publications ; and, to 
his dismay, they at length brought in a judgment 
censuring the foregoing propositions, together with 
nine others, some of which seemed to disagree with 
the doctrine of transubstantiation. Upon this, Picus 
wrote an Apology, and by means of metaphysical 
subtleties explained away the heretical character of 



306 



APPENDIX. 



the obnoxious propositions, and humbly submitted 
himself to the Holy See. As to his former statement 
concerning the demerit of sin, he now endeavored to 
reconcile it with the doctrine of endless misery. 
After all, the Pope forbade the reading of his books ; 
and some time afterwards, when Picus had retired 
from Eome, he was cited to appear before the tribunal 
of the church. But while this was yet pending he 
obtained an absolution from the pontiff, in the year 
1493. After this he devoted himself wholly to the 
study of the Scriptures and to controversial writings, 
resigning his earldom, and distributing all his goods 
among the poor. He died at Florence, a. d. 1494, 
aged only twenty-nine years. 1 

In the year 1498, a Spanish prelate, 

A. D. 1490 to 1498. , 17 /» -|-v . t-v, * \ 

by the name ot Peter D Aranda, was 
degraded and condemned to perpetual imprisonment 
in the castle of St. Angelo, at Home, on being con- 
victed, it is said, of Judaism. He was Bishop of 
Calahorra in Old Castile, near the river Ebro ; and he 
held the office of Master of the sacred palace. He is 
said to have taught that the Jewish religion acknowl- 
edged but one Principle, while the Christian recog- 
nized three, — alluding probably to the doctrine of the 
Trinity. "In his prayers he said, Glory to the Father, 
without adding, to the Son, or, to the Holy Ghost. 
He said that indulgences were of no avail, but were 
invented for the profit that was drawn from them ; 
that there was neither purgatory nor hell, but only 
paradise. He observed no fasts, and said mass after 



i Du Pin's Eccl. Hiat., vol. xiii., ch. 4, pp. 95, 96. 



APPENDIX. 



307 



dinner. From his saying mass, or receiving the Lord's 
supper, it is evident he was not a Jew, but probably 
a Unitarian Christian." 1 

* Priestley's Hist, of the Christian Church, period xxi., sect. vii. 



INDEX. 



Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, his 
friendship with Origen, 105. 

Ambrose believed in endless punish- 
ment for only a few, 187. 

Ambrositjs, a convert of Origen, 107. 
A Universalist, 107. Requested 
Origen to prepare several works in- 
culcating Universalism, and pro- 
vided necessary pecuniary aid for 
it, 107. 

Amalric, the condemnation of his 
opinions proves him a Universalist, 
299. Anathematized, 300. 

Anastasius, the Pope, condemns 
Origen's works, 211. 

Annihilation of the wicked taught 
by Arnobius, 135. 

Arians were never reproached for 
avowal of Universalism, 189. 

Aristides incorporates Grecian phi- 
losophy with Christianity, 18. 

Athanasius quotes Origen as ortho- 
dox, 145. 

Athenagoras gives no intimation of 
the duration of punishment, 45. 

Athenodorus a pupil of Origen, 87, 
110. 

Augustine a patron of the Maniche- 
ans, 190. Attempts to prove that 
the word everlasting always means 
endless, 233. The father of the doc- 
trines of total depravity and partial 
election, 237, 241. 

A vitas teaches the salvation of all 
beings, including the devil and 
apostate angels, 233. 

Barnabas, his opinions respecting the 
duration of punishment indefinite, 
20. 

Basil the Great inclined to Univer- 
salism, 155. An admirer of Origen's 
writings, 156. 



Basilides taught that reformation 
and improvement are the objects of 
punishments, 27. 

Carpocrates believed in the final 
salvation of all souls, 28. 

Chrysostom receives persecuted Ori- 
genists, 214. 

Clemens Alexandrinus a Univer- 
salist, 52. Teaches that all pun- 
ishment is for the good of the pun- 
ished, 53, 54, 56, 58. The same 
means which are employed on earth 
to save men, are employed among 
the dead for their salvation, 55. He 
avoids the use of the phrases " Ever- 
lasting," and " forever and ever," 
in connection with misery, 57. A 
sketch of his doctrines, 58, 59. His 
Universalism not reprehended by 
his cotemporaries. Origen one of 
his pupils, 61, 73. 

Clement, of Rome, his belief in re- 
gard to the duration of future 
punishment uncertain, 12. He 
probably believed in the salvation 
of all mankind, note 1, p. 12. Be- 
lieved in a partial resurrection, note 
2, p. 17. 

Clement, the presbyter, a Universal- 
ist, 286. Condemned as a heretic by 
councils of Soissons and Rome, 287. 

Cyprian held to endless punishment 
for unbelievers, 117. 

Didymus, the Blind, a Universalist, 
175, 176. Writings condemned by 
the Fifth General Council, 280. 
Anathema against his writings 
repeated by the First Lateran Coun- 
cil, 283. Also by the Sixth, Sev- 
enth, and Eighth General Councils, 
283, 284. 

309 



310 



INDEX. 



Devil, the salvation of, an objection- 
able doctrine of Origen, 195, 212, 
213, 217, 219. The doctrine openly 
taught in a province of Spain, 231, 
233. 

Diodorus, Bishop of Tarsus, a Uni- 
versalist, 185. No fault found with 
him for his Universalisrn for many 
centuries after his death, 186. 

Domitian revives the persecution of 
the Christians, 8. 

Domitian, the Abbot, probably a Uni- 
versalis^ 265. Made Bishop of 
G-alatia, 265. His opinions con- 
demned by the Emperor Justinian, 
271. 

Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis, passes 
over Origen's Universalisrn in si- 
lence, 161. The first to condemn 
Universalisrn, 195, 197. The con- 
demnation receives but little atten- 
tion, 201. 

Erigena, John Scotus, taught the 
opinion of Origen concerning the 
final restoration of all fallen crea- 
tures, 288. 

Eternal, the word first applied to 
suffering by the Fathers, 20. 

Eusebius writes a defence of Origen, 
138. Charged with being a Univer- 
salist for defending Origen, 141. 
His admiration of Origen, 142. 

Eusebius Pamphilus reproaches many 
of Origen's doctrines, but not his 
Universalisrn, 147. 

Evagrius Ponticus, pronounced a 
Universalist, 181. His writings con- 
demned by the Fifth General Coun- 
cil, 280. The anathema against his 
writings repeated by the first Late- 
ran Council, 283. Also by the Sixth 
Seventh and Eighth General Coun- 
cils, 283, 284. 

Everlasting, the word first applied 
to suffering by the Fathers, 20. The 
word used in a limited sense in the 
Sibylline Oracles, 38. Also by 
Justin Martyr, 41. The use of the 
word by orthodox writers, 50. Not 
used by Clemens Alexandrinus in 
connection with misery, 57. Origen 
uses it in a limited sense, 82, 98. 
Cyrill uses it in an uncertain sense, 
149. Gregory Nyssen uses it as 
limited, 172. Augustine attempts 



to maintain that the word always 

signifies endless, 233. 

Fabius Marius Victorinus seems to 
teach Universalisrn, 150. 

Fifth General Council, a plot which 
contributed to the calling of it, 275. 
The Council opened, 277. Con- 
demned the doctrines of Origen, 279. 
The condemnation of Universalisrn 
by the Council, questioned, 281, 
note a. 

Firmilian becomes a pupil of Origen, 
87, 108. 

Forever and ever not used, by Clem- 
ens Alexandrinus, in connection 
with misery, 57. 

Freedom of the Will, the Manicheau 
belief respecting it, 126. 

Gehenna, Origen's opinion of it con- 
demned by Jerome, 228, note 3. 

Gnostics separated themselves from 
the other believers, 10, 67. Believed 
that Christ's mission was not to satisfy 
any vindictive justice of Deity, 23. 
Some of them held the final salvation 
of all, 25, 27, 28. Their Univer- 
salisrn not regarded as obnoxious by 
the orthodox fathers, 32. The sects 
flourished as late as A. d. 190. 

Gregory Nazianzen, his indecision 
respecting universal salvation, 163. 

Gregory Nyssen, adopted and taught 
Universalisrn, 169. Believed punish- 
ment is remedial, 171. Not con- 
demned for his Universalisrn, 174. 
Germanus attempts to prove that he 
was not a Universalist, 285. 

Gregory Thaumaturgus becomes a 
pupil of Origen, 87, 110. Why 
called Thaumaturgus, 113. Held 
the doctrine of Universal Restora- 
tion, note 2, p. 113. 

Grecian philosophy first incoi*porated 
with Christianity, 18. Rapidly mod- 
ifies the Christian religion, 33. As 
it prevailed in the church the 
secrets of the infernal realm were 
brought more fully to light, 51. 

Heraclas, Bishop of Alexandria, 

converted by Origen, 106. 
Hermas seems to teach salvation 

after punishment, 22. 



INDEX. 



311 



Hilary, of Poietiers, imitates Origen, 
145. 

Iren^eus appears to think the unjust 
will be annihilated, 48. His formal 
summary of faith, 48. 

Isidorus, of Alexandria, a Universal- 
ist, 184. 

Jerome a Universalist, 177. Evi- 
dence of it from his works, 178, 179. 
Accused of inconsistency, 206. The 
doctrine of restoration from hell 
not regarded as heinous by him, 
207. His commentaries teach final 
restoration, 219. Opposed Origen 
from grudge and policy, 222. Proba- 
bly a Universalist in secret, 229. 

John of Jerusalem, evidence that he 
was a Universalist, 184. His friends 
did not consider Origen's Book of 
Principles heretical, 205. 

Justinian, Emperor, condemns the 
doctrines of Origen, 269, 278. 

Leontitjs probably a Universalist, 
262, 265. His death and character, 
274. 

Lollards, the sect of, 302. They 
defended their faith in the final 
restoration, even unto death, 302. 

Manichean sect began to appear, 121. 
Held two original, self-existent 
principles, 123. Their doctrine of 
free-will, 126, note 1. Some of 
them believed in the restoration of 
all souls, 127, 128. Augustine pat- 
ronizes them, 190. Closing notice 
of them, 253. 

Martyr, Justin, adopts the philo- 
sophic notions of Aristides, 18. 
Intimates that the wicked will be 
eventually annihilated, 41. 

Marcellus, Bishop of Ancyra, held the 
doctrine of universal salvation, 145. 

Melania, although an Origenist, hon- 
ored with the title of saint, 226. 

Men of Understanding, the sect of, 
held that the pains of hell were to 
cease, 303. 

Minucius Felix asserts the strict 
eternity of hell torments, 65. In 
treating of the infernal regions, he 
uses the language and views of 
ancient heathen poets, 66. 



Monks, followers of Origen among 
them, 158. 

Nonnus probably a Universalist, 262, 
265, 272. His death and character, 
274. 

Novatus asserts the principles of Uni- 

versalism, note 1, p. 115. 
Nyssa, the Bishop of, a Universalist, 

155. 

Orthodox, one class of them Univer- 
salists, 231. 

Origen, his birth, 72. His early edu- 
cation, 72. The martyrdom of his 
father, and the poverty of the fam- 
ily, 74. Published a work advo- 
cating universal salvation, 69. 
Taught the doctrine of Universal- 
ism, and the pre-existence of souls, 
together, 70, 71, 79. Begins to 
give religious instruction, 74. His 
rigid abstinence and laborious 
study, 75. Persecuted by the hea- 
then, 75. His great learning, 76, 
77. Ambrosius becomes his pupil 
and benefactor, 77. Flees from 
Alexandria to escape the persecu- 
tion of Caracalla, and expounds the 
Scriptures at Cesarea, 77. The 
Bishop of Alexandria forbids him, 
a layman, to preach before bishops, 
and orders him to return to Alexan- 
dria, 78. By request, he visits the 
mother of Emperor Alexander to 
teach her Christian doctrine, 78. 
Begins his Commentaries, 78. Is 
ordained Presbyter, 79. Publishes 
some of his Commentaries, 79. All 
administrations and appointments 
of Providence directed to reclaim 
the degenerate, 80. A believer in 
the freedom of the will, 81, note 2, 
p. 82. The progress of souls after 
death, 82. His allegorical method 
of interpreting the Scriptures, 83, 
84. Persecution by the Bishop of 
Alexandria drives him into Pales- 
tine, 85. Is deposed from sacerdo- 
tal dignity by an assembly of bish- 
ops, 86. Was not condemned for 
error of doctrine, 86. He opens a 
school in Cesarea, and Firmilian 
and Gregory Thaumaturgus, and 
Athenodorus became his pupils, 87. 
Completes his great work, the Hex- 



312 



INDEX. 



apla, or Octapla, 89, 90. His Uni- 
versalism not a cause of the hostility 
to him, note 1, p. 91. His suffer- 
ings during the persecution by 
Decius, 92, 93. His death, 93. 
Why surnamed Adamantius, 94. 
Estimate of his character, 94. Pas- 
sages in his works in which he 
teaches Universalism, notes 2 and a, 
p. 95. Inculcates Universalism in 
his defence of Christianity against 
Celsus, 96, 97. His Universalism 
not advanced in the way of contro- 
versy with the orthodox, 98. The 
orthodox did not oppose his Univer- 
salism, 98. Texts he adduced in 
favor of Universalism, note 2, p. 98. 
The salvation of all men belongs to 
the Christian mysteries, 99. Extent 
of his influence, 104. Universalism 
not confined to his adherents, 114. 
Why his influence did not reach the 
West, 114. His Universalism gave 
no offence as late as 390, 130, 133. 
Eusebius and Pamphilus write in 
defence of him, 138. His Univer- 
salism not censured by his oppo- 
nents, 139, 140. Admired by Euse- 
bius, 142. Athanasius quotes him 
as orthodox, 145 . Hilary, of Poic- 
tiers, imitates him, 145. Basil the 
Great, Didymus, and the two Greg- 
ories, Nazianzen and Nyssen, are 
warm admirers of him, 146. His 
Universalism not reproached by 
Eusebius Pamphilus, 147. His fol- 
lowers among the monks, 158. His 
violent opposer, Epiphanius, Bishop 
of Salamis, passes over his Univer- 
salism in silence, 161. Didymus, 
the Blind, considered Origen his 
master, 175. His books of Princi- 
ples contain Universalism, 205. His 
books of Principles not considered 
heretical by Jerome's friends, 205. 
His first condemnation, 209. His 
followers persecuted, 210, 211. His 
works condemned by Pope Anasta- 
sius, 211. They are condemned by 
a synod in Cyprus, 212. The salva- 
tion of the devil his most objection- 
able doctrine, 195, 212, 213. His 
doctrine of the salvation of all 
mankind not condemned, 213. 
Reluctant acquiescence of the ortho- 
dox with the condemnation of his 



works, 213. His followers perse- 
cuted, 214. Final restoration not 
considered an important error of 
Origen, 220. His opinions promul- 
gated by monks, in Palestine, 264, 
266. His doctrines condemned by 
the Emperor Justinian, 269. His 
doctrines condemned by the Fifth 
General Council, 279. Origenists 
driven from Palestine, 281. Anath- 
ema against him repeated by tho 
First Lateran Council, 283. Also 
by the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth 
General Councils, 283, 284. 

Palladius, of Galatia, a Univeralist, 
183. 

Pamphilus writes in defence of Ori- 
gen, 138. Charged with being a 
Universalist, for defending Origen, 
141. 

Paulicians, elements of Universal- 
ism discovered among them, 291. 
Their characteristics, 292. Their 
persecution, 294. Many of them 
probably held the salvation of all 
souls, 296. 

Picus, John, Earl of Mirandola, 
teaches that sin merits only finite 
punishment, 305. 

Polycarp, his opinion respecting 
the extent of the kingdom of Christ, 
16. A believer in a partial resur- 
rection, note 2, p. 17. 

Punishment, diversity of opinion 
respecting its duration occasioned 
no divisions or controversies among 
the Christians at the beginning of 
the third century, 67. Remedial, 
153. So taught by Gregory Nys- 
sen, 171. 

Ratnold, an Abbot of France, accused 
of holding that all men will event- 
ually be saved, 297. 

Sibylline oracles teach Universalism, 
note a, p. 35. Contain the earliest 
explicit statement of a restoration 
from the torments of hell, 37. 

Solomon, Bishop of Bassora, affirms 
the opinions of Theodorus and Dio- 
dorus, 300. 

Stadings, the representation of the 
sect by Catholic historians, 300. 



INDEX. 



313 



Tertullian seems to have been the 
first Christian writer who asserted 
that the torments of the damned will 
equal in duration the happiness of 
the blest, 63. The doctrine accorded 
with his disposition, 64. In treating 
of the infernal regions, he uses the 
language and views of ancient 
heathen poets, 65. 

Theodorus, of Mopsuestia, a Univer- 
salist, 243. Opposes Augustine's 
doctrines of depravity, 245. "Was 
not reproached for his doctrines un- 
til after his death, 246. Anathe- 
matized for his Universalism by the 
Fifth General Council, 278. 

Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus, a Univer- 
salist, 247, note I. 

Theodortjs Ascidus, the deacon, prob- 
ably a Universalist, 265. Made 
bishop of Cappadocia, 265. His 
opinions condemned by the Empe- 
ror Justinian, 271. 

Theophilus of Antioch teaches final 
restoration, note a, 46. 

Theophilus, of Alexandria, persecutes 
the Origenists, 210, 211, 214. Op- 
poses Origen from grudge and 
policy, 222. 

Titus, Bishop of Bostra, taught the 
final restoration, 152. 

Universalism, the state of at the be- 
ginning of the third century, 66. 



Not heretical nor unpopular, 148. 
Seems to be taught by Fabius Ma- 
rius Victorinus, 150. The senti- 
ment of a majority of the eminent 
fathers of the East, 162. Adopted 
and taught by Gregory Nyssen, 169. 
Condemned first by Epiphanius of 
Salamis, 195, 197. This condemna- 
tion receives but little attention, 
201. Universalism never recovered 
entirely, from the check received by 
its condemnation, 222. Prevailed 
among the monks of Palestine, 246. 
Notices of it within Roman territory 
not found after A. d. 500. Tho 
historians Socrates, Sozomen, and 
Theodoret favorably disposed to- 
wards it, 249. Causes for the 
silence of history respecting Univer- 
salism, 252. Stephen Bar-Saduilii, 
the only teacher of Universalism at 
this period, 252. Its condemnation 
by the Fifth General Council, 
questioned, 281, note a. Its history 
from the Fifth General Council to 
the Reformation. 282. Attracts 
attention in the East, 286. Vague 
elements of it discovered among the 
Paulicians, 291. A solitary trace 
of it among the monks of France, 
297. Condemned by a Council called 
by the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
302. 





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